Oil Strike North

Oil Strike North is a BBC television drama series produced in 1975.[1][2]

Oil Strike North
Genre	Drama
Created by	Gerard Glaister
Starring	Nigel Davenport Glyn Owen Barbara Shelley Angela Douglas
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer	Gerard Glaister
Production company	BBC
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	26 August – 18 November 1975

The series was created and produced by Gerard Glaister and dealt with life on Nelson One, a North Sea oil rig owned by the fictional company Triumph Oil.[3][4] Eschewing the corporate power struggles of Mogul / The Troubleshooters and concentrating on more personal storylines, Oil Strike North was essentially a character study of how workers faced life on the rig and the impact it had on the lives of their families and loved ones.[5]

Oil Strike North lasted for one series of thirteen episodes.[4] Gerard Glaister later moved on to produce the Second World War resistance drama Secret Army, the air freight series Buccaneer and then onto the boating soap serial Howards' Way.[6] Two of the leading actors in Oil Strike North, Nigel Davenport and Glyn Owen, also later appeared in Howards' Way.[7]

The scenario was later revived by the BBC for the mid-1990s drama Roughnecks.[8]

Cast

• Nigel Davenport - Jim Fraser
• Glyn Owen - Jack Mullery
• Barbara Shelley - Elaine Smythe
• Angela Douglas - Julie Ward
• Michael Witney - Frank Ward
• Calum Mill - Angus Gallacher
• Angela Cheyne - Shona Campbell
• Andrew Robertson - Donald Cameron
• Richard Hurndall - Charles Wayman
• Sean Caffrey - Evans
• Maurice Roëves - McGraw

Episodes

• Deadline[9]
• Quiet Day[3]
• Storm Clouds[10]
• First Lion[11]
• The Decision[12]
• The Floating Bomb[13]
• It Depends Where You Stand[14]
• Shore Leave[15]
• Workhorse[16]
• Time of Hazard[17]
• Headhunters[4]
• The Fatal Hours (part 1)[18]
• The Fatal Hours (part 2)[4]

References

1. "Oil Strike North (TV series)". BFI.
2. "Oil Strike North". 23 September 1975. p. 47 – via BBC Genome.
3. "Quiet Day (1975)". BFI.
4. "Oil Strike North | Nostalgia Central".
5. "Oil Strike North". 26 August 1975. p. 32 – via BBC Genome.
6. "BFI Screenonline: Glaister, Gerard (1915-2005) Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk.
7. "Howard's Way[02/10/88] (1988)". BFI.
8. "Roughnecks". 16 November 1995. p. 106 – via BBC Genome.
9. "Deadline (1975)". BFI.
10. "Storm Clouds (1975)". BFI.
11. "Oil Strike North (BBC-1 1975, Nigel Davenport, Angela Douglas)". 30 May 2016.
12. "The Decision (1975)". BFI.
13. "The Floating Bomb (1975)". BFI.
14. "It Depends Where You Stand (1975)". BFI.
15. "Shore Leave (1975)". BFI.
16. "Workhorse (1975)". BFI.
17. "Time of Hazard (1975)". BFI.
18. "The Fatal Hours Part 1 (1975)". BFI.

External links

• Oil Strike North at IMDb