About this season
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.
Episodes (26)
1. With Luv from Rosie
Aired 7 January 1966
Robertson, the Headmaster, gives Craig the unpleasant task of stopping an older woman teacher from using the strap on her pupils.
2. Patterson
Aired 14 January 1966
When 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.
3. The Search
Aired 21 January 1966
The 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.
4. A Wise Father
Aired 28 January 1966
Obsession can corrupt a man. Allied to jealousy it threatens to destroy Alec McGregor's whole way of life.
5. Dougie
Aired 4 February 1966
The 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.
6. Girl in a Thousand
Aired 11 February 1966
Through her outrageous schemes for bending school discipline, Chris Elliott clashes head-on with Ian Craig and the rest of the teaching staff.
7. Three's Company
Aired 18 February 1966
The small American community at Strathaird becomes the focus of a 'Yanks - Go Home' campaign.
8. Live Like a Man
Aired 25 February 1966
Davy 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.
9. A Lower Deep
Aired 4 March 1966
On 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.
10. Sticks and Stones
Aired 11 March 1966
When 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.
11. Big Fall
Aired 18 March 1966
The death of one of the pupils creates an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust at Strathaird School.
12. The Bike
Aired 25 March 1966
Angus 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.
13. Time For Protest
Aired 1 April 1966
Craig is in trouble after accepting an invitation to speak at a political meeting.
14. The Key to it All
Aired 8 April 1966
A probationer teacher cannot control a difficult class. How far has the school the right to protect her from publicity?
15. Tall, Fat and Ugly
Aired 15 April 1966
Wallace Welton is bullied by the other boys, given a nickname and generally knocked around.
16. A Rough Passage
Aired 22 April 1966
Charles 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.
17. The Expedition
Aired 29 April 1966
18. The Romantic
Aired 6 May 1966
Sixteen-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.
19. Certain Standards
Aired 13 May 1966
Brenda Graham returns to Strathaird as housekeeper at the Big House, once her family home. Extravagant and condescending, she insists on maintaining 'certain standards'.
20. Two Thousand a Year
Aired 20 May 1966
Alec 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.
21. A Question of Biology
Aired 27 May 1966
Sally 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.
22. Mates
Aired 3 June 1966
Francis 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.
23. The Rubbing Rag
Aired 10 June 1966
24. Whose Pigeon?
Aired 17 June 1966
Robin 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?
25. The Golden Key to Knowledge
Aired 24 June 1966
Arriving quietly in Strathaird, Ivor Fallon, an apparently charming man, singles out a woman teacher as his natural victim for a particularly ruthless venture.
26. Old Flame
Aired 1 July 1966
Kenneth 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.