The perennial tales of two boys whose antics light up the sleepy town of St Petersburg in America’s Deep South in the middle of the 19th century were first tackled in 1952 with this BBC adaptation.
The story sees Huck Finn (Colin Campbell who, 12 years later, would take the lead role in The Leather Boys) and his buddy Tom Sawyer (Jeremy Spenser) take a journey down the Mississippi River after fleeing with their escaped slave friend Jim (Orlando Martins).
While full of mischief and incident, their journey is a leisurely one which the producers felt would probably last the same seven weeks as the serial itself.
Their river journey went from St Petersburg to Illinois to Jackson’s Island, St Louis and on to Hicksville. Although since this was the BBC in the 1950s, it was considered a big deal to even have shot establishing location footage on the Norfolk Broads . . .
Huckleberry Finn
Colin Campbell Tom Sawyer
Jeremy Spenser Jim
Orlando Martins Judge Thatcher
Shaun Sutton Pap Finn
Kenneth Connor Dolphin of France
Mark Daly Duke of Bridgewater
Peter Martyn Bill Trout
Thomas Conniffe Miss Watson
Aimée Delamain Deacon Hovey
Brown Derby Susan
Susanna Hogan Aunt Sally
Megs Jenkins Widow Douglas
Janet Joye Jed
John Knight Tommy Barnes
John Levitt
Episodes
The Widow Douglas’s | Jackson’s Island | Life on the Mississippi | The Rightful King of France? | The Wilks’ Fortune | The Auction | Back to the River
