In this Scottish Television drama, a reverend provides spiritual guidance to the staff and passengers of a busy international airport.
Reverend Bill Duncan (Ronald Forfar) ministers to an unconventional and ever-changing parish: the bustling terminals of a modern airport. Each week, he confronts a new crisis among the transient population of travellers and airport employees. His duties extend beyond simple spiritual counsel, as he often finds himself mediating family disputes, comforting the distressed, and offering a steady presence amidst the chaos of arrivals and departures. The stories range from helping a family confront their true feelings to dealing with the moral dilemmas of those whose lives are in transit.
Airport Chaplain was constructed as an anthology of small-scale moral dramas, using its unique setting as a narrative engine. The airport terminal functions as a secular confessional, a crossroads where human dramas are forced to a point of crisis before being dispersed on the next flight. This structure gave the series its distinct character: it was not a soap opera, but a collection of weekly morality plays. By placing a man of faith in a thoroughly modern and impersonal environment, the scripts found a way to examine questions of duty, loss, and connection in a setting stripped of traditional community supports.
Broadcast: ITV – Scottish, 6 Episodes, Tuesdays, 8 January – 12 February 1980
Writers: Roy Russell, Bruce Stewart, Stephen Hancock, Anna Stanley
Directors: David Giles, Tina Wakerell
Producer: Richard Bates
Executive Producer: Bryan Izzard
Main Cast: Ronald Forfar (Reverend Bill Duncan)
Guest Cast included: Russell Hunter, Bryan Marshall, Walter Carr, Juliet Cadzow, Gwyneth Guthrie, David Waller, Bernard Holley
