This Man Craig (1966)
This Man Craig was a TV drama series produced by BBC Scotland and screened over 52 episodes in 1966 and 1967. It was set in a secondary school in the fictional Scottish town of Strathaird. Episodes were filmed at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Academy and Glenwood School. The series dealt with the everyday issues affecting both staff and pupils at Strathaird School, and in particular the titular character, idealistic science teacher and housemaster Ian Craig. The first series was shown over 26 episodes between January 7 1966 and July 1 1966. The second series was shown over 26 episodes between September 17 1966 and March 21 1967. Only one episode is known to be still in existence in the BBC archives. The opening sequence showed him driving over the Forth Road Bridge, which at the time was newly built and a Scottish cultural icon.
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Episode 1 - With Luv from Rosie
Release Date: 1966-01-07Robertson, the Headmaster, gives Craig the unpleasant task of stopping an older woman teacher from using the strap on her pupils.
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Episode 2 - Patterson
Release Date: 1966-01-14When a boy is shoved down a flight of stairs and knocked out it falls to Craig to prove what everyone already knows - that the deed was done by the school 'hard case', Kenny Patterson.
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Episode 3 - The Search
Release Date: 1966-01-21The death of a loved one is hard to accept at any age. For thirteen year old Hamish it is the beginning of a night of terror.
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Episode 4 - A Wise Father
Release Date: 1966-01-28Obsession can corrupt a man. Allied to jealousy it threatens to destroy Alec McGregor's whole way of life.
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Episode 5 - Dougie
Release Date: 1966-02-04The most popular boy at Strathaird School should have no problems, but Dougie Seaton has plenty. As a natural leader he does what he likes: shirks lessons, not pay his debts and lead others into trouble. Craig has the task of dragging the boy back to reality.
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Episode 6 - Girl in a Thousand
Release Date: 1966-02-11Through her outrageous schemes for bending school discipline, Chris Elliott clashes head-on with Ian Craig and the rest of the teaching staff.
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Episode 7 - Three's Company
Release Date: 1966-02-18The small American community at Strathaird becomes the focus of a 'Yanks - Go Home' campaign.
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Episode 8 - Live Like a Man
Release Date: 1966-02-25Davy Murchie is a late developer, though hitherto he has been as much of a 'rough diamond' as the rest of Lower Four. Now, at fourteen, he is showing a passion for mathematics, coupled with a brilliant ability. He is confused and his family and friends don't understand what has happened to him. The only person who can help him is his Maths teacher, Miss Dougall.
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Episode 9 - A Lower Deep
Release Date: 1966-03-04On the face of it Mr. Griffin seems a fine acquisition to the teaching staff. But before he can settle down he clashes violently with a bright boy called Innes. His savage reaction to the boy makes Ian Craig doubt his suitability.
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Episode 10 - Sticks and Stones
Release Date: 1966-03-11When Keith Mitchell keeps having one cold after another, Ian Craig's suspicions that he is playing truant are well founded - but the reasons go deeper than he suspects.
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Episode 11 - Big Fall
Release Date: 1966-03-18The death of one of the pupils creates an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust at Strathaird School.
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Episode 12 - The Bike
Release Date: 1966-03-25Angus Galbraith works a neglected farm. Because his poverty is masked by pride he rejects as charity Craig's efforts to provide his son with a bicycle.
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Episode 13 - Time For Protest
Release Date: 1966-04-01Craig is in trouble after accepting an invitation to speak at a political meeting.
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Episode 14 - The Key to it All
Release Date: 1966-04-08A probationer teacher cannot control a difficult class. How far has the school the right to protect her from publicity?
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Episode 15 - Tall, Fat and Ugly
Release Date: 1966-04-15Wallace Welton is bullied by the other boys, given a nickname and generally knocked around.
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Episode 16 - A Rough Passage
Release Date: 1966-04-22Charles Houston, an undergraduate, comes to Strathaird as a temporary teacher. He is given a rough passage before he learns how to translate his idealist theories into practice.
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Episode 17 - The Expedition
Release Date: 1966-04-29 -
Episode 18 - The Romantic
Release Date: 1966-05-06Sixteen-year-old Jane Brewer has a row with her history teacher which brings her to the notice of Ian Craig, her Housemaster. He treats her sympathetically, but in doing so becomes the victim of a crush.
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Episode 19 - Certain Standards
Release Date: 1966-05-13Brenda Graham returns to Strathaird as housekeeper at the Big House, once her family home. Extravagant and condescending, she insists on maintaining 'certain standards'.
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Episode 20 - Two Thousand a Year
Release Date: 1966-05-20Alec McKinlay, a miner's son, is one of Craig's brighter pupils. Opposition to his going to University comes from an expected source - and an unexpected one.
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Episode 21 - A Question of Biology
Release Date: 1966-05-27Sally Scott is both precocious and vulnerable, hiding her shyness behind a facade of extrovert gaiety. One day when she writes a poem she is surprised to find that it shocks Ian Craig. His show of puritan disapproval makes Sally withdraw into a shell of resentment.
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Episode 22 - Mates
Release Date: 1966-06-03Francis Cook, nicknamed 'Wee Bonkers' by his classmates because of his bookishness and old-fashioned manner, is moved to another form. Here he teams up with Fisher, one of the School's wilder spirits, with surprising results.
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Episode 23 - The Rubbing Rag
Release Date: 1966-06-10 -
Episode 24 - Whose Pigeon?
Release Date: 1966-06-17Robin Kyle runs off to the Highlands. Who is responsible for his disappearance? His Parents? The garage where he has been sent on an educational scheme? Or the School itself?
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Episode 25 - The Golden Key to Knowledge
Release Date: 1966-06-24Arriving quietly in Strathaird, Ivor Fallon, an apparently charming man, singles out a woman teacher as his natural victim for a particularly ruthless venture.
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Episode 26 - Old Flame
Release Date: 1966-07-01Kenneth Woodburn is preparing a glossy tourist film in Scotland. An old flame of Margaret Craig, he stirs up not only the school, but Craig's family life as well.