Review for Wreckers at Dead Eye: The Complete Series

Although I didn't see this on its original airing in 1970, I enjoyed the first episode when it was included on the third volume of Network’s fantastic double DVD taster sets ‘Look back on 70’s Telly – Issue 3’.


It’s a muddy looking piece, filmed on location in England (as it proudly boasts at the end of each episode) filmed on grainy 16mm in sub-optimum weather in Cornwall though, thanks to some very over the top acting and a wonderful score, it’s really great fun.
Kids who love Pirates will love this. The acting has more in common with Robert Newton’s Long John Silver (Ahhhh – Jim Lad!) than with the louche Johnny Depp in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ but in my opinion, all the better for that. In fact, let’s face it, this grainy old under-funded piece of golden retro-TV is worth ten of the bloated, over-complex ‘POC’ movies. So if you've got any pirate fans on your house, this could be just the ticket.


The cast is full of ‘soon-to-make it’ British actors including Jack Smethurst hamming it up as a pirate (Jon-Jo) before heading off for ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ and a terribly handsome law-man (from ‘the Revenue’) in the unlikely shape of pre-Coronation Street Johnny Briggs.


The real star of the show though is British TV and film stalwart Arthur White as the pirate leader, Eye-patch, turning in as frightening and deadly a pirate as I have ever seen and I can only imagine how terrifying he must have seemed to the children’s audience of the day. He makes the Cybermen seem like the Teletubbies with his toothless scowling and howling. Without his endless menace the show may have seemed a little tame.


Spread out across six addictive episodes, it starts on a dark, stormy night in 1770, when a ship crashes on the treacherous rocks of Dead Eye. It would seem that an entire Cornish village (Thriabbas) is in on the plot, led by the evil pirate Eye-Patch, of luring boats towards the rocks by shining their candles to guide the lost ship towards it as if towards a light-house. Once the ship has crashed, the villagers are able to take whatever loot is on board, though any survivors must be thrown back to sea as dead men tell no tales.


However, this particular wreck has a single survivor, a pretty Persian girl who is washed ashore and who the pirates are keen to silence. However, a daughter of a retired sea Captain and his ‘boy’ rescue the girl and take her to temporary sanctuary at the Captain’s house before resolving to make a stand against the gang. However, their house-keeper, one of the villagers, seems to be listening to their every word and before long suspicions of dual loyalties are aroused.


When two men turn up from the revenue and discover the loot from the wreck hidden in the Miller’s barn, things start to really hot up. Eye-patch is determined to silence anyone who gets in his way and, besides, another boat festooned with loot and gold is about to pass their shore.


A simple ‘goodies versus baddies’ adventure kicks in and each episode ends on a climatic note meaning that you’ll want to watch the next episode straight-away. Had time allowed, I would certainly have been happy to watch all six episodes in one session.
Though a little slow to start (put this down to the show’s vintage) it soon picks up and more than rewards a little patience.


I sometimes wonder what attracts me to archive TV, often at the expense of watching anything contemporary, and even more curious is why I enjoy children’s TV, when done well, more than just about any other genre. Who knows? But if you’re inclined to enjoy older, gentler paced children’s TV drama, then you’re going to love ‘Wreckers at Dead Eye’.