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
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