Taking its cue from the earlier The Silver Swan, this was an educational journey through the ages as seen through the eyes of one family. The linking device this time was a valuable candlestick with fourteen branches, the symbol of the Gordon family honour.
The original candle had been won by a courtier of King Arthur, having saved the King’s life and another branch had been added to the candlestick every hundred years by the incumbent Gordon generation, providing their honour had not been besmirched by greed or dishonesty.
Throughout time, the Gordon’s had to guard the candlestick against the Fitzwilliams, a jealous family line and each adventure in time would pit another ancestral Gordon against the Fitzwilliams.
The first episode told of how the candlestick was won from King Arthur with subsequent adventures set at the time of King Richard and the Crusades, the invention of the cannon, the genesis of the Spanish Armada, the English Civil War, and the Indian Mutiny.
Lord Freddie Gordon/Sir Rufus/Sir Phineas/Sir Roger
Bruce Gordon Admiral the Duke of Tyburne/Captain Sir Francis Gordon
Paul Whitsun-Jones Sir James Fitzwilliam/Sir Guy/Sir Hubert/Colonel Fitzwilliam
Colin Douglas Ronald Fitzwilliam/Rollo/Sir Malthus/Sir Thomas/Sir Jeremy
Barry Letts Servant
Peter Diamond Barney
Dennis Ramsden Poppythe maid
Sheila Shand Gibbs (1)
Penelope Bartley (2) Hunk
Nigel Arkwright Matt
Garth Adams Night Wolf
Peter Macarte PC Willis
Robert Perceval Swift Arrow
Paddy Ward Chief Sitting Bull
Peter Bull Gezir Mohammed
Patrick Cargill Corporal Bramblehead
Christopher Hodge Rumpunch
Charles Lloyd Pack Kyle
Redvers Kyle King Charles I
Derek Waring Dusty McCool
Shaw Taylor Earl of Dudgeon
Philip Dale Prince Salamud
Marne Maitland King Richard the Lion Heart
Robert Raikes Princess Zerina
June Rodney Miss Harding
Christine Russell Colonel Mainwaring
Campbell Singer Don Jose
Ewen Solon King Arthur
Richard Wordsworth King Henry VI
Michael Allinson Running Deer
Patrick Carter White Eagle
John Drake General Poinceau
Michael Kent Tim Raffety
Arthur Lowe MacOstrich
John Rae Queen Elizabeth I
Peggy Thorpe-Bates
Episodes
King Arthur’s Candlestick | The Crusader’s Candlestick | The Gunpowder Candlestick | The Sea-Captain’s Candlestick | The Cavalier’s Candlestick | The Mutiny Candlestick | The Secret Agent’s Candlestick || The Prisoner’s Candlestick | The Potato Candlestick | The Red Indian Candlestick | The Twins Candlestick | The Wild West Candlestick | The Diving-Bell Candlestick
