Michael J Bird's Contribution to
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Michael J Bird's Contribution to
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| Warship |
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Series Creator: Ian MacKintosh BBC1 
Warship ran for four seasons between 1973 and 1977. Although Bird had no direct naval experience, having served in the army after the war, he was a good sailor and as part of his research he spent a week aboard a minesweeper which he enjoyed enormously. Not counting Warships creator Ian Mackintosh, Bird was the second most prolific contributor during the third and fourth series using the setting of HMS Hero to devise some fine dramatic tales. Bird also scripted at least two other stories that were never filmed. Director Michael Briant says that Ian Mackintosh "tended to re-write all the scripts that came in!!!" MacKintosh was something of a mystery man. Read more about him at the fascinating Ops Room - an appreciation web site for MacKintosh's series The Sandbaggers. |
 
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"What Are Friends For?"
Bird's first story, poses a moral dilemma for the Captain of the Hero when he catches an old friend smuggling drugs. Should he accept his friend's explanation and, like Nelson, turn a blind eye? The decision is made all the more difficult because the friend once helped him out of a scrape, saving his career. |
 
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"Quiet Run Ashore"Bird's second offering is a mystery about an accidental death on board a naval ship. A Board of Enquiry on HMS Hero discovers that nothing is as it first appears. The episode includes an impressive performance by a young John Duttine who would later star in Bird's creation The Outsider. |
I have had all four of Bird's Warship
episodes transferred to DVD and they reproduce quite well. They serve as a good record of a much underrated series. |
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"Girl from the Sea" ... presents another mystery in which a series of events during a stopover in Hong Kong steer Hero's Captain towards an inescapable conclusion, which turns out to be false. In the final few minutes Bird ingeniously reveals a completely different explanation. Wei Wei Wong, who played the girl of the title, was a member of the dance group "The Young Generation" appearing on television with Rolf Harris. Director Michael Briant recalls "she actually came from Hong Kong so got a trip home to see her folks when we cast her!" Prentis Hancock, who played Hong Kong Police Inspector Fielding, says the BBC insisted that he had his hair cut short for the part. It caused problems when he was called back for a re-shoot on a Return of the Saint episode in which he had had long hair. They had to find him a wig to match his previous look. |
 
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"A Matter of History" (working title "Who Are Born of Thee") Broadcast in February 1977, Bird's last story has serious political overtones. Hero is detailed to oversee the handover of "Eddowes Island", a fictitious British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, to its South American neighbour. Director Michael Briant recalls that Devonport was the Port Stanley of the story. "We went out onto Dartmoor to film the radio/tv station sequence but there was so much fog it was a bit of a right off. The cameraman and I teased Ian Mackintosh that we would use our fog diffusing filter to 'see' through the fog. The military intelligence part of Ian perked up his ears and we kept the 'joke' going for a couple of days... The other event on Dartmoor was that we heard Ian had received his MBE during the filming for Michael's script - the word went round it was for Michael Bird's Efforts." |
| Michael J Bird Tribute Website |
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