The Onedin Line 1971 - 1980 Opening and Closing Theme (With Snippets)

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The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin.

Around this it depicts the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner Robert, a shop-owner, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore (mostly lower- and upper-middle-class).

The series also illustrates some of the changes in business and shipping, such as from wooden to steel ships and from sailing ships to steam ships. It shows the role that ships played in such matters as international politics, uprisings and the slave trade. Additionally the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal is mentioned during one series.

James Onedin (Peter Gilmore), the younger son of Samuel Onedin, a miserly ship chandler who left his money to eldest son Robert. He was a penniless sea captain with aspirations to greater things and in order to become a ship-owner, he married Anne Webster, who was some years his senior. She was the spinster daughter of Captain Joshua Webster (James Hayter), owner of the topsail schooner Charlotte Rhodes. At first it was purely a business transaction on Onedin's part; but a warmer relationship gradually developed.

On her death at the end of the second series James had come to love her. James considered two possible replacement brides: wealthy widow Caroline Maudslay and the young heiress Leonora Biddulph (Kate Nelligan), before settling for his daughter's governess, Letty Gaunt (Jill Gascoine).

The music behind the opening credits of the series is an excerpt from the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from the ballet Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian.