About this season
Written and filmed to reflect the reality of life in the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines in the 1970s, most stories focus on the Captain and his fellow officers, with subplots dealing with life on the lower decks. Episodes typically featured a variety of events at sea (the Cold War, smuggling, the evacuation of civilians from crisis-hit places, etc.), as well as the personal lives of officers and ratings and the impact their personal lives had on their professional lives and duties.
Episodes (13)
1. Wind Song
Aired 4 January 1977
Ex Polaris submarine captain Edward Holt is in command of HMS Hero currently on duty in the Hong Kong area.
2. Singapore Incident
Aired 11 January 1977
An executive jet flying a routine trip to Singapore issues a mayday call and is forced to ditch at sea. Captain Holt and the crew of HMS Hero are ordered to investigate.
3. Diplomatic Package
Aired 18 January 1977
One of the islands in the vicinity of Hong Kong now has a large oil field, to which the UK would like favorable concessions. To show the British presence, HMS Hero drops anchor in the port and Captain Holt and his crew practice their diplomacy ashore.
4. Rendezvous
Aired 25 January 1977
Hero is asked to help the Hong Kong police catch wanted murderer Victor Chelten, a former businessman with mental issues who has escaped by boat.
5. The Girl From The Sea
Aired 1 February 1977
Whilst watching a naval helicopter exercise HMS Hero rescue a Chinese girl from the water. When they return to Hong Kong it is with the assistance of the police that the mystery starts to unravel.
6. A Matter of History
Aired 8 February 1977
HMS Hero is docked at Eddowes Island, which is about to be handed over from British rule. The locals are welcoming to the Hero's crew, but they're opposed to the handover, and some are resorting to violence. The Hero's crew are asked to help keep the locals in order, which worries Captain Holt, and Lt Napier in particular.
7. Counter-Charge
Aired 15 February 1977
HMS Hero is now on its way back from Hong Kong. As they move closer to Portsmouth harbour the ship's crew prepares for shore leave.
8. Man In Reserve
Aired 22 February 1977
HMS Hero's overworked pilot accidentally flies into the RNR manned HMS Rillington's firing exercise. He spends the next exercise on HMS Rillington while their irritating Lt Mannering inflicts his bragging on Hero. An emergency then occurs.
9. Fall From Grace
Aired 1 March 1977
Having returned from an exercise the HMS Hero crew are needled about the state of their ship by Captain Calder.
10. Jack Fell Down
Aired 8 March 1977
The new officer on HMS Hero is a Special Duties commission: in this case, a former Petty Officer. He attacks his new role perhaps too vigorously and this is not helped by being unable to mix well and so learn from the other officers.
11. Robertson Crusoe
Aired 15 March 1977
Whilst observing a Russian ship, HMS Hero finds and takes aboard an experimental unexploded mine.
12. Someone, Somewhere
Aired 22 March 1977
As HMS Hero continues to steam home to Portsmouth, the RAF drop a post package for the crew. For Able Seaman Blane this starts unsettling rumours as to the state of his marriage back in his home village.
13. Operation Sting-Ray
Aired 29 March 1977
After an uprising - in which five British citizens have died - Hero and Bulwark are deployed to Dubarr in order to pick up evacuees. Captain Holt's girlfriend, journalist Zoe Carter, is one of the people trapped in the country.