As a member of the Scottish Schoolboys' Club (a Christian youth group), I remember Roddy McMillan coming to speak to us one Sunday night about a year before he died (he lived locally, in Pollokshields in Glasgow). He was one of the finest public speakers I have ever heard and full of great stories about the making of The Vital Spark.
I can guess you loved hearing what happened on the set? in the stories Para Handy could tell a story about his adventures on board the Vital spark. did you know that he married the Baker's widow?
was not roddie in both earlier series of the vital spark? gregor fisher did a later version.the original b and w version had duncan macrae as para handy and i think roddie appeared in that as well.
Yes Roddy McMillan was Dougie in the first series, which was entitled Para Handy Master Mariner. Duncan Macrae was the Captain, John Grieve was MacPhail and Angus Lennie (who would later be Shughie McFee in Crossroads) was Sunny Jim.
This episode is genius. Great cast, great script. Has one of the best gag lines ever: "Ye see this thing that's goin' roon an' roon?" "Aye" "It should be goin' up an' doon!".
i think the best part of the episode is where the Captain and the Engineer have a argument about the state of the Vital Spark's steam engines i think the Engineer's opinion was right
Wonderful series. From the cast, the script, the locations. It's a shame they didn't make more. You would hope the someone somewhere might be sitting on a copy of one of the missing tapes. Gold Dust. Roddy McMillan, John Grieve, Walter Carr, Alex McAvoy, four wonderful actors.
There are two excellent books by Stuart Donald where he writes Para Handy tales after the style of Neil Munro. 'Para Handy All at Sea' and 'Para Handy Sails Again'. Well worth a read.
You had this on before, but it had the closing credits slightly cropped. Thanks for uploading the complete version. I may be a bit of an anorak, but it does make a difference, I think. Chust sublime!
Only one of the Black & White episodes survive that being Drop Of The Real Stuff think it was taken down due to Copyright and only 4 of the colour ones from this series
I remember this as a kid .loved it then and now . Can anybody tell me the title of the old ealing movie this series was based on? I would love to see it again
@@kennethmacgregor-Gregorach thank you Kenneth I've been looking for this movie for years . I love the way they give the yank the run around .he's definitely out of his league
while i like this episode i don't like how the Captain treats the engineer, he is not worried about him when the steam pipe bursts in the engine room and then complains when the engineer is unable to get the steam engines workin again and at the end the engineer hurts his back
