Mersey Pirate

Mersey Pirate
1979 (June 9th - September 1st)
with: Duggie Brown (top) Andrew Schofield, Ray Kingsley (stowaways); Vivien Frankland Frank Carson Billy Butler ("Entertainments Manager") and Bernard Wrigley (!) as Monsieur Pierre Le Oui-Oui

Made by Granada and shown in most ITV regions (ie. not Tyne Tees). Westward started showing it from July, when their opt-out "The Morning Picture Show" finally deigned to finish.
Set on a ship moored in Liverpool dock ("The Royal Iris"), which caused many, with hindsight inevitable, technical problems.
Made great use of ex-stars of Granada's The Comedians. Had a bit of a narrative to it.
Considered to have been a bit crap.
The series was cut short (slightly) by the industrial disputes which took ITV off the air from August till November. Despite this...
"We hope to be back next Summer for another run," said co-producer Steve Leahy. "There's even been talk of a summer stage show and Christmas panto featuring all the elements of the Saturday morning show."
It didn't. There wasn't.