The Vital Spark

The Vital Spark was 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 Roddy McMillan as Peter "Para Handy" MacFarlane, captain of the puffer Vital Spark.

The series followed 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.

The comedy was first broadcast in August 1965 as an episode of the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse. Following this two series, of six and seven episodes respectively, were commissioned by BBC Scotland and aired in early 1966, and autumn 1967. Both series were made in black-and-white. In March 1973 an hour-long TV Special was made, in colour, featuring the same cast. After the success of this, a further six episodes (essentially remakes of previous scripts but in a more contemporary setting) were commissioned, airing in autumn 1974. The series is no longer available at the BBC

Cast

Episodes

Season 1

Episode Title Original airdate
1"Pilot"12 August 1965
2"A Drop O’ The Real Stuff"28 January 1966
3"Salvage"4 February 1966
4"The Quarrel"11 February 1966
5"The Bad Luck Cargo"18 February 1966
6"The Acts"25 February 1966
7"A Good Man Gone"4 March 1966

Season 2

Episode Title Original airdate
8"The Duel"16 August 1967
9"The Warning"23 August 1967
10"MacPhail’s Week"30 August 1967
11"The Heroes"6 September 1967
12"The Answer’s a Lemon"13 September 1967
13"Say It With Flair"20 September 1967
14"The Big Bang"27 September 1967

Season 3

Episode Title Original airdate
15"The Vital Spark: Special"5 March 1973
16"The Duel"19 September 1974
17"The Quarrel"26 September 1974
18"A Drop O’ The Real Stuff"3 October 1974
19"Bad Luck Cargo"10 October 1974
20"Highland Voyage"17 October 1974
21"The Wedding"31 October 1974

External links