"Month of the Albatross" is the Christmas episode of the BBC drama series The Onedin Line.
Plot
Baines is found ill, by Matt Harvey, on the Christian Radich. This illness and the time taken to round 'The Horn' to get home is blamed on the killing of an albatross whose feet have been nailed to the mast. Robert has lost his seat in the election. While wandering later that night he stops a woman, Beatrice May, from committing suicide. Struck by her plight, he agrees to buy her property in Wilmington Street and become her landlord, so she can afford to revive her millinery business. Sarah is concerned by Robert's frequent absences and sends James and Elizabeth to talk to him. There is a nasty confrontation with James, whose innuendo provokes an increasingly defensive Robert. Ultimately Robert reveals what has been going on, insisting that there has been no "impropriety" and that he has stopped James owning the entire street by buying Beatrice's property.
Christmas comes and James is in a benign mood with his daughter Charlotte and her governess. Baines returns from sea to spend Christmas with his niece and her two small children, and is horrified to find them living on the streets in the freezing weather. She was one of the tenants evicted by James and tried repeatedly to appeal to him but he refused to see her. The Onedins spend a cheerful Christmas together and James makes a toast – "to us"! The festivities are interrupted when Baines turns up, in a fury. He confronts James, condemns his cruel nature and vows never to sail with him again. James is mortified and tries to plead with his friend, but Baines refuses to listen and walks away. Any remaining Christmas spirit is ruined completely when Elizabeth tells James that she has agreed to make Matt Harvey a partner and that Baines can work for her instead. In reflective mood, James and Letty Gaunt spend the rest of the evening together by the fire.
Cast
External links
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