Thames Tug

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