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Para Handy as Master Mariner is a series produced and broadcast by the BBC, set in the western isles of Scotland in the 1930s, based on the Para Handy books by Neil Munro. It starred Duncan Macrae as Peter "Para Handy" MacFarlane, captain of the puffer Vital Spark .
The series followed the Vital Spark's adventures around the coastal waters of Inner Hebrides and the various schemes that Para Handy would get himself and his crew involved in.
The series was first broadcast in 1959, in black-and-white. Having been subsequently discarded, it is no longer available in the BBC archives. The series was the first of several dramatizations of the "Para Handy" stories, being followed by The Vital Spark in 1965–1966 (remade in 1973–1974) starring Roddy McMillan in the title role, and by The Tales of Para Handy in 1994–1995, starring Gregor Fisher.
| Episode | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Para Handy, Master Mariner" | 11 December 1959 |
| 2 | "Para Handy’s Experiment" | 18 December 1959 |
| 3 | "A Happy New Year" | 1 January 1960 |
| 4 | "The Prize Canary" | 8 January 1960 |
| 5 | "Para Handy's Apprentice" | 15 January 1960 |
| 6 | "The Marriage Market" | 22 January 1960 |
| | This article relating to a television programme from the UK is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
The 'Maggie' is a 1954 British comedy film produced by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick and written by William Rose, it is a story of a clash of cultures between a hard-driving American businessman and a wily Scottish Clyde puffer captain.
The Vital Spark is a fictional Clyde puffer, created by Scottish writer Neil Munro. As its captain, the redoubtable Para Handy, often says: "the smertest boat in the coastin' tred".
Para Handy is a character created by the journalist and writer Neil Munro in a series of stories published in the Glasgow Evening News between 1905 and 1923 under the pen name of Hugh Foulis. He is the crafty Gaelic skipper of the Vital Spark, a Clyde puffer (steamboat) of the sort that delivered goods from Glasgow to Loch Fyne, the Hebrides, and the coast of Argyllshire and Inverness-shire in the early 20th century.
The Clyde puffer is a type of small coal-fired and single-masted cargo ship, built mainly on the Forth and Clyde canal, which provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides of Scotland.
John Duncan Macrae was one of the leading Scottish actors of his generation. He worked mainly as a stage actor and also made five television appearances and seventeen films.
William Finlay Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television. He received great acclaim for his roles as Abel Magwitch in the British film Great Expectations (1946) and as Balthazar in the American film Ben-Hur (1959).
Neil Munro was a Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic. He was basically a serious writer, but is now mainly known for his humorous short stories, originally written under the pen name Hugh Foulis. The best known of these stories are about the fictional Clyde puffer the Vital Spark and her captain Para Handy, but they also include stories about the waiter and kirk beadle Erchie MacPherson and the travelling drapery salesman Jimmy Swan. They were originally published in the Glasgow Evening News, but collections were published as books. A key figure in Scottish literary circles, Munro was a friend of the writers J. M. Barrie, John Buchan, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham and Joseph Conrad, and the artists Edward A. Hornel, George Houston, Pittendrigh MacGillivray and Robert Macaulay Stevenson. He was an early promoter of the works of both Conrad and Rudyard Kipling.
Roddy McMillan OBE was a Scottish actor and playwright, possibly most famous for his comedy role as Para Handy for BBC Scotland's television series, The Vital Spark. He also played the lead role in Edward Boyd's private eye series, The View from Daniel Pike.
The Tales of Para Handy is a Scottish television series set in the western isles of Scotland in the 1930s, based on the Para Handy books by Neil Munro. It starred Gregor Fisher as Captain Peter "Para Handy" MacFarlane, Sean Scanlan as first mate Dougie Cameron, Rikki Fulton as engineer Dan Macphail and Andrew Fairlie as Sunny Jim. These four made up the crew of the puffer Vital Spark which was employed by the Campbell Shipping Company, headquartered in Glasgow and run by Andrew Campbell, Para Handy's brother-in-law and owner of the Vital Spark.
John Grieve was a Scottish actor, best known as the engineer Macphail in the BBC adaptation of Neil Munro's Para Handy stories, Para Handy - Master Mariner (1959–60), returning to that role in the BBC Scotland version, The Vital Spark.
Edward Boyd was a Scottish writer best known for his television and radio work.
The Vital Spark is a BBC Scotland television series set in the western isles of Scotland in the 1930s, based on the Para Handy books by Neil Munro. It starred Roddy McMillan as Peter "Para Handy" MacFarlane, captain of the puffer Vital Spark.
David Scott Ashton is a Scottish actor and writer. Trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, 1964–67, he has acted in a wide variety of film, television, theatre and radio roles. He has also developed a parallel career as a writer of fiction, film and television screenplays and plays for theatre and radio. His radio play The Old Ladies at the Zoo, which starred Peggy Mount and Liz Smith, won the Radio Times Drama Award in 1985.
You're Only Young Twice is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Terry Bishop and starring Duncan Macrae, Joseph Tomelty, Patrick Barr, Charles Hawtrey and Diane Hart. It was based on the play What Say They? by James Bridie. The film was produced by the government backed Group 3 Films and shot at Southall Studios with sets designed by the art director Ray Simm.
The Big Day is a 1960 black and white British "B" drama film directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Donald Pleasence, Harry H. Corbett, Andrée Melly and Colin Gordon. It was written by Bill MacIlwraith and produced by Arthur Alcott and Julian Wintle for Independent Artists.
The Orville is an American science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars as the protagonist Ed Mercer, an officer in the Planetary Union's line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century. It was inspired primarily by the original Star Trek and Next Generation eras, both of which it heavily parodies and pays homage to. The series also uses inspiration from the Star Wars franchise and games like the Mass Effect series. It follows the crew of the starship USS Orville on their episodic adventures, as well as a serialized story which develops over the length of the series.
Alf's Baby, is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Jerry Desmonde, Pauline Stroud and Olive Sloane. It was made by ACT Films, and released as a second feature.
His Brother's Keeper is a 1940 British crime film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Clifford Evans, Tamara Desni and Una O'Connor.
The Devil's Pass is a 1957 British drama film directed by Darcy Conyers and starring John Slater and Joan Newell. It was produced at Kensington Studios in London as a second feature. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ken Adam.
Comedy in Scotland is described as "cheeky rather than edgy", largely in part due to its use of language and innuendos. The country has produced a number of comedians who have gathered an international audience, as well as a number of highly successful comedy television series, such as Still Game, Two Doors Down, Chewin' the Fat, Scot Squad and Gary: Tank Commander. Shows such as Still Game and ScotSquad are only shown on television channels, such as BBC Scotland, past the watershed due to its content of comedy. Liam Smillie of Glasgow World argues that "Scotland has got to be one of the funniest countries in the world, and there’s no funnier city in the country than Glasgow".