''The Tales of Para Handy'' is a

Scottish television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...

series set in the western isles of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in the 1930s, based on the

Para Handy Para Handy, the anglicized Gaelic nickname of the fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game ...

books by Neil Munro. It starred

Gregor Fisher Gregor Fisher (born 22 December 1953) is a Scottish comedian and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the comedy series ''Rab C. Nesbitt'', a role he has played since the show's first episode in 1988. He has also ...

as Captain Peter "Para Handy" MacFarlane,

Sean Scanlan Sean Scanlan (18 August 1948 – 17 April 2017) was a Scottish actor. He is known primarily for his many television and stage roles. Career Scanlan appeared in a large number of plays and television programmes, including as Dougie the shi ...

as first mate Dougie Cameron,

Rikki Fulton Robert Kerr "Rikki" Fulton, OBE (15 April 1924 – 27 January 2004) was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show, ''Scotch and Wry''. He was also known for his appea ...

as engineer Dan Macphail and Andrew Fairlie as Sunny Jim. These four made up the crew of the puffer ''

Vital Spark The ''Vital Spark'' is a fictional Clyde puffer, created by Scottish writer Neil Munro (writer), Neil Munro. As its captain, the redoubtable Para Handy, often says: "the smertest boat in the coastin' tred". Background Puffers seem to have been ...

'' which was employed by the Campbell Shipping Company, headquartered in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and run by Andrew Campbell (

Paul Young Paul Antony Young (born 17 January 1956) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he became a teen idol with his solo success in the 1980s. ...

), Para Handy's brother-in-law and owner of the ''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. These involved transporting a bull aboard the ''Vital Spark'', trying to marry Sunny Jim off, avoiding the sale of the ''Vital Spark'' by Campbell and being held hostage at gunpoint by a religious nutter '' Iain McColl''. Most of the guest stars in the series were well known faces in Scottish comedy and had starred in the sitcom

Rab C. Nesbitt ''Rab C. Nesbitt'' is a Scottish comedy series which began in 1988. Produced by BBC Scotland, it stars Gregor Fisher as an alcoholic Glaswegian who seeks unemployment as a lifestyle choice. Rab C. Nesbitt was originally a recurring character ...

, which also stars Gregor Fisher in the title role. An episode of the second series, 'The Piper', guest starred future

Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the main protagonist of the BBC science fiction television franchise ''Doctor Who''. He is played by David Tennant in three series as well as nine specials. As with previous incarnations of the ...

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

in one of his early acting roles. The music for the series, including the theme, was written and composed by Scottish folk musician Phil Cunningham. The theme tune is a composition entitled "Manus Lunny's Terracotta Plower Pop". It ran from 1994 to 1995 on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

for a total of nine episodes. The ship featured in the series is being restored at Crinan Boatyard on the Argyll coast and has reverted to her original name, 'Auld Reekie'.

Cast

as Captain Peter "Para Handy" MacFarlane *

as Dan Macphail *

Carolyn Pickles Carolyn Pickles (born 8 February 1952) is an English actress who has appeared in West End theatre and on British television. She is known for playing DCI Kim Reid in ''The Bill'' and Shelley Williams in ''Emmerdale''. Life and career Pickles ...

as Lady Catherine Ramsay *

as Dougie Cameron * Andrew Fairlie as Davy "Sunny Jim" Green *

as Andrew Campbell * Sally Howitt as Miss Kelly *Gilbert Martin as Captain Angus * Joanne Bett as Susan *

Tony Curran Tony Curran is a Scottish actor who has appeared in '' Underworld: Evolution'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Roots'', and the Netflix historical epic ''Outlaw King''. He appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film '' Thor: The Dark World'' (2013) as Bor ...

as Donald * Alyxis Daly as Margaret *

as John MacBryde (1 episode)

Episodes

Series 1 (1994)

Series 2 (1995)

Home video

The first six episodes were officially released on UK VHS immediately following their original broadcast. The UK also saw release of the entire series on a 3-

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

set in October 2017.

References

External links

* 1994 Scottish television series debuts 1995 Scottish television series endings Tales of Para Handy, The 1994 in Scotland 1995 in Scotland 1990s Scottish television series Television shows set in Scotland 1990s British comedy-drama television series {{BBC-tv-prog-stub