This comedy series – based on the books by Guy Gilpatric – was made in 1958 at Associated British Elstree Studios.
It featured the lovable tight-fisted Scottish rogue Chief Engineer Colin Glencannon (impish American actor Thomas Mitchell) and the crew of the Inchcliffe Castle – a rusty old tramp steamer owned by the Castle Shipping Company.
Captain Ball (Charles Carson) describes Glencannon as “nature’s bachelor”.
Patrick Allen played Bosun Hughes, who was amused by Glencannon and often collaborated with him on his get-rich schemes. The rest of the crew were somewhat warier.
These schemes included concealing stowaways for money, trying to beat the roulette tables at Nice, smuggling stuffed crocodiles, swindling a wealthy widow, scavenging items from the seafloor and searching for ancient treasure.
In one episode (‘The Glencannon Collection’), Glencannon himself was swindled by a smooth-talking confidence trickster in Buenos Aires who sold him a Nazi sword, claiming that it belonged to the Admiral of the Graf Spee – scuttled in Argentine waters in 1939 during the early years of World War II.
Guests on the series included Jon Pertwee, Irene Handl, Warren Mitchell, Arthur Lowe, John Laurie, Alfie Bass and Arthur Mullard.
Colin Glencannon
Thomas Mitchell
Bos’n Hughes
Patrick Allen
Captain Ball
Charles Carson
Montgomery
Barry Keegan
Cookie
Wee Georgie Wood
Sparks
Peter Collingwood
Hazlitt
John Gabriel
John Castle
John Barron
Miss Melcher
Lally Bowers
Episodes
Hair Of The Dog | Chinaman’s Chance | Double, Double, Deal and Trouble | Champagne Charlie | Pearl of Panama | The Monte Carlo Massacre | Man With A Mermaid | The Mean Man From Genoa | A Nosegay For Mr Montgomery | The Loving Cup | Scot From Scotland Yard | The Ancient Mariner | Crocodile Tears | The Masked Monster | The Smugglers of San Diego | Three Lovesick Swains of Gibraltar | The Rolling Stone | Nearly A Bridegroom | The Donkeyman’s Widow | The Balloon Story | The Christmas Story | The Toothless Hag of Cadiz | Stardust and Corn | Gabriel’s Trumpet | Mutiny On The Inchcliffe Castle | The Yogi of West Ninth Street | Where Early Fa’s The Dew | At The Sign Of The Brass Knuckles | The Artful Mr Glencannon | Love Story | Mr Glencannon and The Ailing Turtle | The Wailing Lady of Limehouse | The Home Stretch | The Milk Blossom | Captain Snooty of The Yacht | The Glencannon Collection | The Toadmen of Tumbaroo | Mud Bottom Mulligan | The Jungle Story
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