Every time I see that name I smile as many years ago I was working outside Inveraray doing an upgrade to a substation to encompass a new windfarm and the Vital Spark was moored there. I smile because, at the time, I worked for a company called Vital Resources and I was doing electrical work, so, I was the Vital Sparky!
in the stories Dan never had an argument with the Captain. I am pretty sure Para Handy only called the engineer a stoker once when he didn't want up get up to fix the whistle
Fkn AWESOME….. when I was a wee laddie this was on just before Sportscene on a Sat night, perhaps with The Black and White Minstrels in between . 😂🏴
i loved the original stories set just before and during ww1.paras account of his incredible voyage to belfast is a classic! no lights and dougie at the stern striking matches in case we hit the lusitania!
BBC did not start archiving until 1978, and almost all the black and white stuff is gone as they went from B&W to colour in 1967… even in the 1980’s and early 90’s they were pretty sloppy, and apparently they pay good money for any private VHS recording tapes that may have something that’s missing from their archives
Thanks for uploading this one Eric, I’ve never seen this one. Aye I’ve got the VHS tape of Drop of the Real Stuff, Bad Luck Cargo and The Wedding but I thought no other episodes survived the STV studios fire which cost the fire crews lives including the River Clyde Fire
Sorry never meant to send above before finishing but the ladder firemen which were killed in the 1969 blaze and the River Clyde Fire boat which was also pumping when the building started crumbling killing 1 or 2 of the boat firemen.
I wonder if it was co-incidence that at the time this was being transmitted John Grieve would also appear in another seafaring comedy Doctor at Sea as the purser! I only recently discovered this classic gem of Scottish comedy and glad I did - I had only previously been familiar with the 90s comedy drama with Gregor Fisher as Para Handy. Such a shame only a handful of the episodes now exist.
Watching this show 60 years back I thought it was the funniest thing on television. much better than the BBC stuff. The working class humour resonated with me and I wanted to be the captain of a tugboat on the river..
Interesting story/ comedy based around the 1930s _sailing_ era and being replaced by *steam* . For ship afficianados- Also Reccomend reading *twilight for the gods* by ernest gann. Thank you
Its based on the books written by Neil Munro in the 1930s and they were set in that time period. The BBC made a couple of series in the 90s called "the tales or para handy" which was set in the time period of the books
@@darkwarrior6465 i have not read the books yet so i don't if any thing that happened in the tv series happened in the books. in one of these older episodes Donald makes a reference to it being some where in the late 1940s
I've just read the tales and thought I'd try this. It comes across too much as a stage play, especially with the canned laughter. I can smell the Clyde when I read the book, but sadly this just seems manufactured.
This stuff is pish compared to modern Scottish comedy such as Stll Game. Not one mention of jobbies. In fact they should have a whole Vital Spark episode about jobbies THEN we can talk comedy. I was at the posh Glenalmond College private school with Robbie Coltrane who writes mostly about jobbies and he could do the job. And do the jobbies.
Assume your comment was meant to be humorous... but not actually! This is the best (IMHO) of several TV adaptations of Neil Munro's books that my Dad read to me as a wee girl. Last April sailed from Dunoon to Oban via small isles & Crinan Canal aboard Glen Etive of the Majestic Line!
