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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Shows by Decade»1950s Television
    1950s Television Kids TV Shows T 2 Mins Read

    Thames Tug

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    1 9 5 3 (UK)
    6 x 30 minute episodes

    Jimmy Spurgeon (Sean Barrett) is a schoolboy who finds himself in a strange world he knows nothing of when he accidentally ends up lost in London with nowhere to stay. He is found and befriended by the streetwise Toughy Wren (Timothy Reynolds).

    Toughy is rather less well-off than Jimmy as his ragged clothes attest. His dad, Ted (Hugh Griffith), is an old salt who scrounges a living beachcombing among the quays and wharves along the river.

    Sister Sally (Glenda Davies) has a slightly better job, working in the dockside office of a tugboat company.

    With all the cargo coming and going every day, it’s not long before Jimmy and the Wrens – accompanied by Bill the handyman (Roy Jackson) – soon uncover some shady dealings by the quayside.

    Another star of the serial was Trojan, a diesel tug that worked the waterways of the Thames and led Jimmy and Toughy into adventures.

    This short series was an early experiment in location-based filming by the BBC  Television Film Unit.

    Jimmy Spurgeon
    Sean Barrett
    Toughy Wren
    Timothy Reynolds
    Sally Wren
    Glenda Davies
    Ted Wren
    Hugh Griffith
    Bill Rawlings
    Roy Jackson
    Smythe
    Douglas Blackwell
    Huggins
    Christopher Hodge
    Gladys Huggins
    Vi Stevens
    Dr Spurgeon
    John Deverell

    Episodes

    Half a Pound | Jimmy and the Joker | Cross Purposes | The Gent and the Joker | Uncle John Enjoys the Joke | Ebb and Flow

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