Wings (1977 TV series)

Wings
Wings Title Card Series 2
Genre	Drama
Created by	Barry Thomas
Written by	Barry Thomas Julian Bond Arden Winch
Directed by	Jim Goddard Gareth Davies Donald McWhinnie Desmond Davis
Starring	Tim Woodward Michael Cochrane Nicholas Jones John Hallam David Troughton Sarah Porter
Theme music composer	Alexander Faris
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	25
Production
Producer	Peter Cregeen
Running time	50 Minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	2 January 1977 (1977-01-02) – 30 March 1978 (1978-03-30)
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Wings is a drama series about the Royal Flying Corps that ran on BBC television from 1977 to 1978. It stars Tim Woodward as Alan Farmer, a young blacksmith turned fighter pilot in the First World War. Nicholas Jones played his teacher and mentor, Captain Triggers and Michael Cochrane played his upper-class friend, Charles Gaylion, who began a relationship with Farmer's girlfriend while Farmer was believed dead, shot down over France.

The series reveals that the British pilots are struggling with aeroplanes which are unreliable and inferior to the German machines and with an Establishment that classes voicing an opinion to that effect as being tantamount to cowardice. The airmen must also face the resentment of British soldiers who see them having an "easy" life. The rigidity of the British class structure is highlighted when Farmer becomes an officer in the second series – he faces resentment from some officers because of his class and NCOs because of his new rank. The series takes great care with historical accuracy, covering the early days of the parachute, the fitting of weaponry to British biplanes (lacking the Germans' interruptor gear, they had to be fired at an angle rather than between the propeller blades) and the horrors of trench warfare. Wings depicts a Britain that is, in some areas, struggling to adapt in the face of change, at a period that was a turning point for many people's way of life.

The series was created by Barry Thomas.^[1] Twenty-five episodes were made in all.