Debuting at 6.15 pm on Saturday 7 April 1979, this serialisation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Scottish story was a co-production between HTV and West German television company Tele München and had a cast including German and French artists.
When young David Balfour (Ekkehardt Belle) arrives to claim his inheritance at the bleak Scottish house of his gaunt and murderous uncle Ebenezer (Patrick Magee), his relative tries to murder him then has him shipped off to be sold as a slave in the colonies.
Luckily for the lad, he strikes up a friendship with the brash Alan Breck Stewart (David McCallum), who is on the run after Bonnie Prince Charlie’s defeat at Culloden.
When a ship’s captain tries to kill Breck for his money the two manage to get to land and set out for Edinburgh, dodging the ruthless Redcoats along the way.
Patrick Allen played the wily Prestongrange, Lord High Advocate of Scotland; Bill Simpson was Alan Breck Stewart’s uncle, James of the Glens; and Frank Windsor (of Z Cars and Softly, Softly fame) appeared as Red Fox.
The series was actually based on two of Stevenson’s novels – Kidnapped and its sequel Catriona – and filmed primarily on location in Devon.
Alan Breck Stewart
David McCallum David Balfour
Ekkehardt Belle Catriona
Aude Landry James of the Glens
Bill Simpson More
John Carson Mungo Campbell
John Carlisle Prestongrange
Patrick Allen Neil
Joseph Brady Ebenezer Balfour
Patrick Magee Colin Roy ‘Red Fox’ Campbell
Frank Windsor
Related Posts
Paul Temple 1 9 6 9 - 1 9 7 1 (UK/Germany) 52 x 50 minute episodes Crime-novelist Paul Temple (Francis Matthews) solved…
Holocaust 1 9 7 8 (USA) 1 x 180 minute episode 2 x 120 minute episodes 1 x 150 minute episode Holocaust first…
Moonstrike 1 9 6 3 (UK) 27 x 50 minute episodes This anthology series of one-off thrillers from the BBC featured stories…
Outcasts, The 1 9 6 8 - 1 9 6 9 (USA) 26 x 60 minute episodes “In the decade following the…
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 1 9 5 6 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes The suave and eminently respectable Dr Henry Jekyll (Dennis Price) transforms…
Sutherland's Law 1 9 7 3 - 1 9 7 6 (UK) 46 x 50 minute episodes Iain Cuthbertson of Budgie fame starred as John Sutherland…
Mask, The 1 9 5 4 (USA) 15 x 60 minute episodes This ABC series presented the investigations and courtroom defences of brothers…
Flight Of The Heron 1 9 6 8 (UK) 8 x 30 minute episodes The late Finlay Currie starred in this rather epic Scottish Television…
