Season 1

26 episodes · 1978

A mysterious lodger turns up at the Admiral Benbow Inn, which Jim runs with his mother. Calling himself Billy, the man seems frightened of something and drinks like a fish. When Jim grows suspicious, Billy asks him to keep watch for a one‑legged man. Who is this one‑legged man, and what is Billy so afraid of?

A man called Black Dog, an old shipmate, comes looking for Billy — but the moment he spots him, he attacks. In the scuffle, Billy collapses from a stroke. When Dr. Livesey rolls up Billy's sleeve to treat him, he finds a pirate's tattoo — Billy was a pirate all along…!

A man calling himself Blind Pew appears before Billy and hands him the Black Spot — the pirates' notice of severance, a sentence of death. Terrified to learn the one‑legged man will come at ten that night, Billy keeps drinking until a stroke finally kills him. Jim is left stunned — and the appointed hour draws nearer by the minute.

Pirates led by Black Dog and Pew storm the Admiral Benbow Inn. Desperate to protect the package Billy entrusted to him, Jim fights them off with all his might. Just as he's cornered, the rescue soldiers Dr. Livesey sent arrive! Safe at last, Jim discovers, inside Billy's package…

When the town's squire, Trelawney, and Dr. Livesey learn that Jim has the map to Treasure Island, they resolve to set out after the treasure. Jim longs to go too, but the thought of leaving his mother alone keeps him from speaking up. His mother, however, has already sensed how her son feels.

Dr. Livesey had asked a one‑legged man — who runs an eatery called the Spyglass in Bristol — to arrange the crew. This one‑legged man, who calls himself Silver, says he'll join the ship as its cook. Jim suspects Silver may be the very one‑legged man Billy warned of — and just then, he spots Black Dog slipping into the Spyglass!

Silver is a good‑natured man, fondly nicknamed "the old cook" by the crew, and Jim feels himself drawn to him more and more. When the ship is becalmed, Silver takes Jim out in a small boat to fish for swordfish. Watching Silver battle the giant fish single‑handed, Jim comes to respect and trust him as a man.

The drunken first mate, Mr. Arrow, falls overboard and goes missing. Some suspect Silver pushed him, but there's no proof. Just then, a ghost ship appears, bearing the specter of Mr. Arrow. Declaring he'll prove his innocence, Silver boards the ghost ship all alone!

The ship docks at a port town in the West Indies. Jim goes ashore with Silver's group to buy provisions, but gets separated; wandering alone, he's seized by slave traders. Worried when Jim doesn't return, Silver sets out to look for him and finds him being chased by the men.

Jim's trust in Silver grows ever deeper. Then one night, hungry, Jim climbs into the apple barrel on deck for an apple and falls asleep inside. When he wakes, the pirates are out on deck plotting a mutiny — and the man at the center of it, giving the orders, is none other than…!

At last they reach Treasure Island, but now that Jim knows Silver's true nature, there's no joy in his heart. Hearing Jim out, the captain decides to find out whether Silver really is a pirate, and orders Jim ashore with Silver's party to watch them. Burying his bitterness, Jim sets his first step on the island.

Realizing Jim has discovered his true colors, Silver tries to capture him. Fleeing for his life, Jim meets a strange figure with hair and beard grown wild — Ben Gunn — marooned on the island by the pirates who hid the treasure. Meanwhile, back on the ship, the battle between the captain's men and the pirates has begun!

Escaping the ship, the captain's party take refuge in the island's stockade, but the pirates launch a fierce assault. Standing watch with Trelawney's old servant and old Redruth, Jim hears the story of the little bell Redruth treasures — and just then, a single gunshot rings out through the night!

Silver mounts a cannon on the hill behind the stockade and presses Captain Smollett's party to surrender. Judging the fort would fall easily under fire from there, the captain orders Jim to find a cave to serve as a backup stronghold. But Jim loses his way, comes out on the rear hill, and notices the cunning trap Silver has laid!

Captain Smollett is shot by a pirate who sneaks into the stockade. Worse, an animal carcass is thrown into the well, fouling the water — and without water, the bullet can't be removed from the captain. Jim digs a tunnel under the fence to slip out and, clutching a great jar, sets off to fetch water, but…

Silver brings the ship close to the island and begins shelling the stockade with its cannon. To drive the ship off, Jim sets out to cut its anchor cable, rowing the little leather boat Ben Gunn made. But he can't row up to it and drifts farther and farther out — and a giant shark has set its sights on his boat!

Jim finally cuts the ship's anchor cable, and the ship begins to drift. But Hands and the others aboard, worn down by drink and fatigue, fall into mutual suspicion until they end up killing one another. Noticing the ship is moving, Silver hurries back — but by then the scene aboard has turned gruesome.

With its cable cut, the ship is tossed by a storm and swept seaward. To keep it afloat, Silver and Jim call a truce. Joining forces with Silver again, Jim — feelings tangled — works desperately to patch the flooding hull. But Hans, whom they'd thought dead, is still alive, and lunges at them both!

After the ship runs aground on the far side of the island, Jim returns to the stockade — and there appears Silver, whom he'd thought drowned. Out of food and water, Captain Smollett's party had been allowed to leave the fort in exchange for the map. Jim is taken prisoner, but when Silver tries to shield him, his own men revolt against him!

Captured by the pirates, Silver is bound and about to be burned alive. But overwhelmed by his sheer force of will, the pirates end up turning back to his command. Worried about his fever‑stricken men, Silver sends Jim to fetch Dr. Livesey. Jim is reunited with his friends after a long while, but…

Leading his men with fearsome obsession, Silver presses on toward the treasure, with Captain Smollett's party secretly trailing them. At last they reach the burial spot. The pirates grow giddy, certain they've found it — but the only thing inside the box they dig up is a single skull!

Silver realizes the skull from the box hides a clue to where the treasure is truly hidden. Seizing a moment when the pirates are off guard, Jim escapes and makes it back to Captain Smollett's party. Meanwhile, the pirates head for Skeleton Island, which holds the clue — but betrayed by his own men, Silver is shot!

Puppy, along with Silver, is taken captive by Captain Smollett's party. Silver insists he alone can solve the riddle of the clue on the treasure map, and so agrees to help with the search. But then Silver comes down with a fever — and Puppy declares he'll go fetch a medicinal herb that cures it, for Silver's sake!

The key to the map's clue was the phrase "Flint's Mansion." Taking a hint from Flint's alias, Silver finally unravels its meaning, and his party reach the final place the clue points to. Does the immense treasure left by the great pirate Flint truly lie sleeping here?!

Having claimed the treasure, Jim and the others leave the island by ship. The captive Silver is oddly meek, but Gray doesn't trust him for a moment. At a port town, Silver goes ashore with Gray and Jim to recruit crewmen — but this is exactly the perfect chance for the escape Silver had been waiting for!

Having found the treasure, Jim and the others return safely to England, welcomed as national heroes. Jim at last comes home to the Admiral Benbow Inn and is reunited with his mother. Ten years on, now a fine sailor, Jim proposes to his childhood friend Lily — and then begins to tell of a certain man he once met in a port town. That man was none other than…