Triangle (television)
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Triangle was a BBC television soap opera of the 1980s, set aboard a North Sea ferry.
Using a ferry as the setting for a television series originally looked like a promising idea. The regular cast, playing the crew, could be joined by a constantly-changing guest cast playing the passengers as the ship sailed to interesting European locations. What was more, thanks to portable cameras and recording equipment the show could actually be videotaped on board a real ferry boat for a fraction of the cost of using a studio for interiors.
Unfortunately the plan was revealed to be flawed almost as soon as shooting began. The weather refused to co-operate, making the exterior scenes look gloomy and dull and far from glamorous.
Another problem involved lighting. The cameras were perfectly comfortable with both natural and artificial lighting conditions, but a mixture of the two always produced unnatural-looking colour. This meant that interior scenes always had to be shot with the windows or portholes curtained - so that as far as the audience was concerned they might as well have been shot in a studio anyway.
The final nail in the show's coffin was its scripts, which involved clichéd relationships and stilted dialogue.
The series was quickly cancelled, but is still fondly remembered for its sheer awfulness.