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| THE
VITAL SPARK 28/01/66 - 24/10/74, BBC1 (Scotland) reviewed by Chris Diamond |
August
2001
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Few names raise as many blushes in Queen Margaret Drive (soon to be abandoned home of BBC Scotland) than that of Para Handy and his fine, trim vessel The Vital Spark, eponymous centrepiece of one of their finest comedy shows. This is due to the thoughtless destruction at some unknown juncture of the 1959 series Para Handy: Master Mariner, an oft recalled and fondly remembered first outing for the characters who were to be realised to fuller potential and greater acclaim in The Vital Spark. Although the loss of other more famous series elsewhere in the Corporation, such as the greater part of Not Only But Also, are better known and greatly lamented, the wiping of Para Handy: Master Mariner was seen (and is seen) by many in Scotland as not merely an unfortunate bureaucratic mistake but as an act of cultural barbarism. Small wonder then that BBC Scotland did eventually recreate the adventures of Para Handy and his steam puffer crew with near enough an identical cast and amid much fanfare only a few years later. The original crew, as mentioned, remained mostly in place for the three series that were made in its second incarnation. Initially in black and white, the second series was made in colour and the third series became mostly remakes of the first now also shot in colour. Roddy McMillan became Para Handy, captain of the Clyde cargo puffer of the title (replacing the original captain, Duncan MacRae who had since died), Walter Carr was promoted from his previous role of cabin boy Sunny Jim to be Dougie the Mate, with Alex MacAvoy taking that part. John Grieve (most famous now for being hopelessly pissed during an ill-fated Hogmanay show when he was expected to recite poetry) was Dan MacPhail the Engineer. The plots were loosely based on the short stories by Neil Munro (from which the original lost series took its name) but were adapted - often drastically so - by scriptwriter Bill Craig. Aside from the excellent casting (there has rarely been an ensemble gathered to match it) what gives the programme its unique feel is its insistence that it remain resolutely of its time. This is no period piece, as the later 1995 series Tales of Para Handy starring Gregor Fisher became, rather it gleans charm from having a subject that seemed so out of place in '60s (and '70s) Britain. Munro's stories may have been set in post-World War I Scotland but Bill Craig's vision of Para Handy and his crew were of an anomalous collective living out a way of life essentially long dead by the time of its showing. When The Vital Spark was first seen as Para Handy: Master Mariner in 1959 one could still have seen puffers ferrying coal and fertiliser up and down the Clyde coast. But by 1966 these were relegated to folk history and bar room anecdotes. Sailing through all this came Roddy McMillan and his cohorts as if out of a time warp. The Philadelphia Experiment scaled way, way down. We knew they had no business to speak of, no living to be made. Coal was not transported to the Western Isles by puffer any more. Turf was no longer carried to the Broomielaw by steamer. So Para Handy was left to contrive ways of keeping his beloved ship afloat and his way of life intact. He might have railed at Dan MacPhail and called him a Bolshevik but he would have rather lost a limb than gut his craft to install a diesel engine, even if he would have come up with the cash. His was a Sisyphean task that engaged the viewer who could, in the years of transmission, only too readily see the parallels between a crew at sea losing their jobs and way of life and their own situations with the economic heart of Scotland growing sick and collapsing upon itself. The notion of a man and his companions swimming against an overwhelming current of change is one the viewers in Scotland could identify with and they took Para Handy, Dougie, Dan MacPhail and Sunny Jim dearly to their hearts. The Banquo's ghost of Para Handy: Master Mariner still stalks the corridors of Queen Margaret Drive. Perhaps with BBC Scotland's move to its shining new premises across the Clyde it can lay it to rest, but it has already done much to do so in producing The Vital Spark. |
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