Drama1971–1980ORF 1BBC One

The Best Episodes of The Onedin Line

Every episode of The Onedin Line ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Onedin Line!

Best episode
S2E14 Race for Power
8.834 votes
Worst episode
S1E12 Cry of the Blackbird
6.636 votes
Top season
Season 5
8.2avg
Binge time
3d 3h
91 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons8

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    The Onedin Line Season 2 Episode 14 - Race for Power
    8.8/10(34 votes)

    S2:E14

    No description available

    Director:Peter Graham Scott
    Writer:Cyril Abraham

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  2. The Onedin Line Season 4 Episode 6 - Uncharted Island
    8.9/10(21 votes)

    S4:E6

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. The Onedin Line Season 5 Episode 10 - A Close Run Thing
    8.8/10(19 votes)

    S5:E10

    James and Letty are to be married on board ship by Captain Baines but this nearly does not happen when a group of shanghaied sailors attempt to overwhelm them, the plan being foiled by elderly Captain Jack and the marriage does go ahead. Daniel Fogarty has returned from Australia a rich man. He has begun a charity, the Albert Fund, and is knighted for his services. He marries Elizabeth at last but James's experience has prevented him from being their best man.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. The Onedin Line Season 7 Episode 10 - Homeward Bound
    8.8/10(14 votes)

    S7:E10

    The Doyles return to Liverpool and Samuel declares his love for Helen but Charlotte refuses to divorce him - whilst Sarah and Fergus spend time together. Elizabeth learns that Daniel is the new ambassador to Turkey, an appointment engineered by Marston's father so that she will be obliged to leave Liverpool and join her husband . Helped by Tom, for whom he has arranged a master's apprenticeship, James tracks down Burgess, who has stolen back the ship the 'Black Pearl'. However he lets him keep the ship and returns to Liverpool, finding his house full of children following a fire at Letty's orphanage.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. The Onedin Line Season 3 Episode 13 - The Passenger
    8.6/10(20 votes)

    S3:E13

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Onedin Line Season 2 Episode 2 - Pound and Pint
    8.5/10(27 votes)

    S2:E2

    No description available

    Director:Ben Rea
    Writer:Cyril Abraham

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  7. The Onedin Line Season 6 Episode 10 - The Fortune Hunters
    8.6/10(16 votes)

    S6:E10

    Newly elected to Parliament Daniel joins with Elizabeth to prevent William from selling the Frazer Line to an apparent consortium, actually a front for Beaumont. To take his mind off his son's death James sails to Africa with Captain Baines to find diamonds but they end up adrift in an open boat for three months. Letty never doubts that he will come back and, on his return, he gives half of the Onedin Line to Samuel, who has married Charlotte just in time for the birth of her son.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. The Onedin Line Season 5 Episode 4 - The Trade Winds
    8.6/10(15 votes)

    S5:E4

    Having exposed Macauley's insurance scam James proposes to Letty, who accepts. Daniel also returns to Liverpool, now a very wealthy man. Robert considers opening a department store and travels with Captain Baines and Samuel to New York, where he is robbed and very nearly press-ganged. James takes on a voyage to import some sheep but it causes him to postpone the wedding and Letty, as a consequence, declares the engagement and wedding off.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Onedin Line Season 2 Episode 11 - Goodbye, Goodbye
    8.4/10(28 votes)

    S2:E11

    No description available

    Director:David Cunliffe
    Writer:David Weir

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  10. The Onedin Line Season 5 Episode 3 - Coffin Ships
    8.5/10(16 votes)

    S5:E3

    Five ships, all carrying iron plate, have foundered - people betting on the losses, including Mr. Dunwoody, Elizabeth's clerk, who buys the company house where Robert and Sarah live, forcing them to return to live over the shop. James accepts a cargo of iron plate and discovers the ship is being sabotaged by Kirk, a sailor in the pay of Macauley, who also sunk the other five. Whilst Elizabeth's son, William is only interested in commerce, Robert's boy, Samuel, is keen to go to sea. James returns to Liverpool and finds that Letty, tired of waiting for a marriage proposal, has gone.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. The Onedin Line Season 8 Episode 9 - A Long Way Home
    8.5/10(16 votes)

    S8:E9

    Max Van Der Rheede is imprisoned and James is free. He beats Samuel to the contract of transporting nitrate and sets sail with his first cargo. Against his orders Margarita accompanies him. She is pregnant and eventually gives birth to a son. James is overjoyed. Elizabeth, on the other hand, receives distressing news. Daniel's ship has sunk returning to England and he has drowned, making her a widow for a second time.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. The Onedin Line Season 7 Episode 1 - Liverpool Bound
    8.5/10(15 votes)

    S7:E1

    Newly elected to Parliament Daniel joins with Elizabeth to prevent William from selling the Frazer Line to an apparent consortium, actually a front for Beaumont. To take his mind off his son's death James sails to Africa with Captain Baines to find diamonds but they end up adrift in an open boat for three months. Letty never doubts that he will come back and, on his return, he gives half of the Onedin Line to Samuel, who has married Charlotte just in time for the birth of her son.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. The Onedin Line Season 8 Episode 1 - A Royal Return
    8.5/10(15 votes)

    S8:E1

    Letty has died from diphtheria caught from one of her orphans and Elizabeth has returned from Turkey to ensure the orphanage remains open. Sarah is on a Cook's tour of the world, Samuel has his own ships, bought from selling the shares William left his son Robert, as well as becoming the youngest chairman of the chamber of commerce. He divorces Charlotte and is awarded custody of the children but agrees to repay the shares in the little boy's account.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. The Onedin Line Season 8 Episode 3 - Blood Ties
    8.5/10(15 votes)

    S8:E3

    An ancient cannon Captain Baines believes to have belonged to Henry Morgan and spirited Margarita, daughter of South American president Juarez, join James' latest cargo but on arrival in Margarita's home country James finds that her father is about to be overthrown in a revolution by his brother-in-law. When the rebels attack James and Tom help the Juarezes to escape but the president is shot by a sniper and, as the surviving trio row back to the ship under fire, the cannon comes in very handy. Elizabeth counts the financial cost of putting up ransom money for her brother.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. The Onedin Line Season 6 Episode 7 - Highly Explosive
    8.5/10(14 votes)

    S6:E7

    Letty tells James that she is pregnant and Charlotte gives William the same news. He is stunned and, as he does not love her, refuses to marry her - although she has confided in Samuel that she believes they will wed. Samuel takes the news badly and, when he and James, sailing to Ireland, come across a deserted steamer full of high explosives, feels sufficiently reckless to help James put the cargo overboard, though they are successful and claim the salvage rights. William turns twenty-one and inherits his mother's share of the Frazer yard, which he intends to sell.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. The Onedin Line Season 6 Episode 8 - A Sea of Troubles
    8.5/10(13 votes)

    S6:E8

    James learns of Charlotte's situation but refuses permission for her to marry William, whom he regards as worthless, and sends her out of Liverpool to have her child. He also encourages Daniel to stand against the greedy Beaumont as a councillor to thwart the banker's aim to take more land for himself if elected though Elizabeth is still unhappy about her husband's support for the ship canal. Captain Baines brings home a ship from South America, whose dying captain is an old enemy of his. Baines falls for the man's wife and considers buying the ship when her husband dies but James beats him to it.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. The Onedin Line Season 3 Episode 7 - Law of the Fist
    8.4/10(18 votes)

    S3:E7

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. The Onedin Line Season 4 Episode 3 - Not Wanted on Voyage
    8.4/10(18 votes)

    S4:E3

    No description available

    Director:Gareth Davies
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. The Onedin Line Season 8 Episode 2 - Revenge
    8.4/10(16 votes)

    S8:E2

    Still in Bulgaria having dropped off the disguised, fugitive Prince Alexander Onedin and Captain Baines are captured by Tsarists, a fifty thousand pound ransom being required for their freedom. By selling off some of her shares and four of her brother's ships, Elizabeth raises the money and travels to Bulgaria with Samuel to hand it over. However the captives have already been rescued by the quick-thinking Tom and James is far from grateful to his sister for her gesture, which, he claims, will ruin him.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. The Onedin Line Season 2 Episode 8 - 'Frisco Bound
    8.3/10(32 votes)

    S2:E8

    No description available

    Director:David Cunliffe
    Writer:Allan Prior

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  21. The Onedin Line Season 2 Episode 10 - An Inch of Candle
    8.3/10(28 votes)

    S2:E10

    Anne is Pregnant and is asked to buy a new house. James discovers an abandoned ship.

    Director:Gerald Blake
    Writer:Martin Worth

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  22. The Onedin Line Season 7 Episode 2 - The Homecoming
    8.4/10(13 votes)

    S7:E2

    Leaving Letty feeling adrift in their new, large country house James sails to Belfast, persuading cash-strapped Captain Seth Burgess to cut him into his steamship line. William returns from two years abroad and instantly detects the cool atmosphere between his parents. Samuel and Charlotte make it clear to him that they want nothing to do with him but feel remorseful after William dies, saving a group of children from being trampled by a runaway horse and cart. His death also goes some way to reconciling his parents.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. The Onedin Line Season 3 Episode 11 - The Silver Caddy
    8.3/10(19 votes)

    S3:E11

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. The Onedin Line Season 4 Episode 7 - A Clear Conscience
    8.3/10(18 votes)

    S4:E7

    No description available

    Director:Michael Hayes
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. The Onedin Line Season 6 Episode 3 - Double Dealers
    8.3/10(16 votes)

    S6:E3

    Samuel does not let sentiment cloud his father's death, proposing to Letty that her mill-workers make bed linen which he will sell through a catalogue for his store, though Letty drives a harder bargain than he had imagined. William is shocked to learn that the 'Indian Queen', a Frazer ship which he chartered to a Mr. Lillie without his parents knowing, was deliberately sunk ,with loss of life ,for the insurance money. James has his suspicions but, even with the use of a diver, cannot proved that the cargo was never loaded.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Race for Power" is the best rated episode of The Onedin Line. It scored 8.8/10 from 34 votes. Directed by Peter Graham Scott and written by Cyril Abraham, it aired on December 31, 1972.

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