Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man

16 July 2026

Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man is a short film produced in the 1970s by the BBC. It was aired on 1 May 1978, at 11:25 pm, and has never been repeated. Unfortunately, I missed it at the time, but recently had the pleasure of watching the full film (47 mins) on YouTube, and am very glad I took the time to check it out. Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man is a neglected gem that deserves to get a lot more attention than it has up to now.

Although the title may suggest otherwise, Tarry-Dan (Paul Curran) is not the central character. The story centres on schoolboy Jonah Grattan (Colin Mayes). A serial truant, Jonah is the school tough guy, and a source of constant frustration for school headmaster Mr Johnson (Colin Jeavons), who sees the young man as both a lost cause and a bad influence on the other children.

Set in a remote Cornish fishing village, the film begins by showing tramp Tarry-Dan standing on a hilltop with his dog. Starring down on the village, he appears to be focusing on a specific bedroom window. Meanwhile, on the other side of the glass, Jonah, who has three days to go until his 16th birthday, is in the grasp of a troubling nightmare filled with bloody scenes from a stained glass window commemorating a battle that was fought in the village’s distant past.

The next time viewers see Tarry-Dan, he is leaning over the railings that surround the school, starring at the shed where Jonah and his friends Darra (Michael Deeks), Willie (Simon Gipps-Kent), and Kenny (Gareth Shiels) are smoking cigarettes. Meanwhile, the younger children, out in the playground, amuse themselves by taunting the old man with a local rhyme:

Tarry-Dan, Tarry-Dan. Scarey old spooky man.
Snatches children off the street,
For his dog and him to eat
But catch me if you can, scarey old spooky man!

Back in the shed, Jonah points out they’ve sung the same song about Tarry-Dan for as long as he can remember, and Kenny says his father remembers singing it too—suggesting Tarry-Dan may be even older than he looks.

By this point, Jonah’s intense dislike of the old man is clearly visible in his face, and, as nobody knows where Tarry and his dog lives, Jonah decides to seek out the old man’s home and beat him up.

The search for Tarry-Dan takes the four boys down into the local caves, where the combination of unpleasant conditions and Jonah’s bad attitude adds to the already growing strain on their relationship. In the end, the search is fruitless but, later that night, Tarry-Dan finds Jonah, issuing him an ominous warning that visibly unsettles the young man, helping to pave the way for another restless night and further nightmares.

If you are old enough to remember 1970s TV, you probably won’t be surprised to learn Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man is not reliant on clever special effects. Written by celebrated Scottish screenwriter Peter McDougall, the story is strong enough to go it alone and benefits from a capable cast that does an excellent job of bringing his characters to life. There are only six cast members, and I only recognized two of them: Michael Deeks and Colin Jarvis. Deeks played Swiftnick in the TV Series Dick Turpin (1978), which was a popular viewing choice with most of the kids I went to school with. As for Jarvis, although I recognized his face, my memory was unable to connect it to any specific character. However, a quick check with IMDb revealed he had roles in many of the films and TV programs I have watched through the years including The Avengers, The Sweeney, Shoestring, The Hitch Hikers’s Guide to the Galaxy, Kinvig, and Only Fools and Horses.

Although it’s impossible to fault any of the cast members, Colin Mayes’ portrayal of Jonah Grattan is particularly memorable, and, in the scene where he apologises to his friends for his recent behaviour, stating “I don’t know what’s wrong with me”, his emotional turmoil comes across as very real.

Both chilling and entertaining, Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man has a lot going for it, and I’m surprised the BBC never saw fit to re-air it or release it on disc. I’m also sure the film will have escaped the attention of many potential viewers because, in order to watch it, they would have needed to be awake at 11:25 pm on 1 May 1978. Although it was a bank holiday Monday, a lot of people would have had to be at work the next day and may have been in bed. In my case, Tuesday was a schoolday and, back then, my 8 pm bedtime was strictly enforced.

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