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| The Water Margin | |
|---|---|
 English title card | |
| Genre | Costume drama, martial arts |
| Based on | Water Margin byShi Nai'an |
| Starring | Atsuo Nakamura Sanae Tsuchida Kei Satō Isamu Nagato |
| Theme music composer | Masaru Sato |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45 minutes per episode |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nippon Television |
| Release | 1973 (1973) – 1974 (1974) |
The Water Margin is a Japanese television series based on the 14th-century bookWater Margin, one of theFour Great Classical Novels ofChinese literature. Made in two seasons of 13 episodes each byNippon Television it was shown in Japan in 1973 and 1974 as水滸伝 (Hepburn:Suikoden).[1][2]
The novel details the trials and tribulations of 108 outlaws during theSong Dynasty. This adaptation followsLin Chung (Atsuo Nakamura) and his clashes with the local government officialKao Chiu (Kei Satō).
For an English-language version, it was adapted byDavid Weir without translations, using only brief plot synopses.[3] The dubbed version, narrated byBurt Kwouk, was shown by the BBC from 1976 to 1978.[4] An English novelisation, written by Weir, was released in 1978 asWater Margin.[5]
The first ten episodes were shown on the BBC from 21 September 1976 to 23 November 1976. The final three episodes were shown just before series 2 from 20 September 1977 to 4 October 1977.
| No. | Title | BBC airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Nine dozen heroes and one wicked man" | 21 September 1976 (1976-09-21) |
| 2 | "None ever escape alive" | 28 September 1976 (1976-09-28) |
| 3 | "Both at last will reach the sea" | 5 October 1976 (1976-10-05) |
| 4 | "Ever busy are the gods of love" | 12 October 1976 (1976-10-12) |
| 5 | "A Treasure of gold and jade" | 19 October 1976 (1976-10-19) |
| 6 | "Bandits who steal are executed" | 26 October 1976 (1976-10-26) |
| 7 | "How easy to die, how hard to live" | 2 November 1976 (1976-11-02) |
| 8 | "A man's only happiness" | 9 November 1976 (1976-11-09) |
| 9 | "A dutiful son and the love of a brother" | 16 November 1976 (1976-11-16) |
| 10 | "Escape is not freedom" | 23 November 1976 (1976-11-23) |
| 11 | "The girl who loved the flower priest" | 20 September 1977 (1977-09-20) |
| 12 | "Kao Chiu loses his heart" | 27 September 1977 (1977-09-27) |
| 13 | "When Liang Shan Po robbed the poor" | 4 October 1977 (1977-10-04) |
On the BBC series 2 followed on from series 1, shown from 11 October 1977 to 3 January 1978.
| # | Title | BBC airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A death for love, more deaths from greed" | 11 October 1977 (1977-10-11) |
| 2 | "The bravest tiger is first killed" | 18 October 1977 (1977-10-18) |
| 3 | "Heaven aims the master's arrow" | 25 October 1977 (1977-10-25) |
| 4 | "The traps of love and hate" | 1 November 1977 (1977-11-01) |
| 5 | "A foolish sage who got involved" | 8 November 1977 (1977-11-08) |
| 6 | "Mourn the slaughter of so many" | 15 November 1977 (1977-11-15) |
| 7 | "The war to end all wars" | 22 November 1977 (1977-11-22) |
| 8 | "Death of a great man" | 29 November 1977 (1977-11-29) |
| 9 | "Lin Chung is beaten" | 6 December 1977 (1977-12-06) |
| 10 | "A concubine's dowry" | 13 December 1977 (1977-12-13) |
| 11 | "Liang Shan Po and the millionaire" | 20 December 1977 (1977-12-20) |
| 12 | "Knight of the long sword" | 27 December 1977 (1977-12-27) |
| 13 | "The dynasty of Kao" | 3 January 1978 (1978-01-03) |
In the UK a DVD box set of both series was released by Fabulous Films in 2005.[6] This was of a censored version broadcast before thewatershed by the BBC in the early 1980s. In 2016 the series was reissued on DVD[7] and Blu-ray[8] with missing portions reinserted that were included in the original 1970s post-watershed broadcast. All UK releases only contain the English dubbed soundtrack.
In Germany a DVD box set was issued by Alive AG in 2008,[9] followed by deluxe[10] and basic[11] Blu-ray sets in 2016 and 2017. As with the UK the series was also originally broadcast in a dubbed version, but all German DVD and Blu-ray releases have also included optional original Japanese audio with German subtitles. In its native Japan, the series was issued in a DVD box set in 2008.[12]