The Vital Spark, 1965
Almost certainly falls into that “I’d forgot about that show” category. The Vital Spark was a BBC Scotland comedy series about a boat, based on the “Para Handy” books by Neil Munro.
Starting life as an episode of BBC’s Comedy Playhouse series in 1965 two series were broadcast in 1966 and 1967. Both series were made in black and white.
Six years after the second series the cast returned in 1973 for a one hour special, this time in colour. The special proved to be a success and consequently a third series was made. Comprising six episodes it was essentially remakes of previous scripts but in a more contemporary setting. this was broadcast in 1974 and if you’d been watching TV 50 years ago tonight you’d have been watching the penultimate episode.
Summary
The Setting is the the Western Isles of Scotland in the 1930’s.
The series follows the Vital Spark’s adventures around the coastal waters of west Scotland and the various schemes that Para Handy would get himself and his crew involved in.
Clips
Cast
Roddy McMillan – Captain Peter “Para Handy” MacFarlane
John Grieve – Dan Macphail, the engineer
Walter Carr – Dougie Campbell, the mate
Alex McAvoy – Davie “Sunny Jim” Green
Robert Urquhart – Dougie Campbell (pilot episode)
Details
Channel: BBC2
Created By: Neil Munro
Written By: Neil Munro and Bill Craig
Produced By: Pharic Maclaren
Original Transmission Dates:
12th August 1965 (pilot)
28th January, 1966 – 27th September 1967 (series 1 and 2),
5th March 1973 (special)
19th September – 24th October 1974 (series 3)
Archive Status
Of the three series only the 1973 special and three of the six episodes from series three survive
Where To Watch
At the time of this post (October 2024) surviving material can be found on You Tube