Gregory Peck here as Forrester’s schoolboy-amusingly-named naval hero coping manfully with the twin encumbrances of Napoleon’s fleet on his back and Richard ‘Mr Pastry’ Hearne as his batman. Hearne was, of course, nearly cast as replacement for Dr Who Jon P’twee, a gig he blew completely by insisting to Barry Letts that he play the role as Mr Pastry. Which would, we inevitably muse, have been brilliant, with bowler hat, drunken pirouetting, a Delia Darbyshire remix of Pop Goes The Weasel and everything. Also on board – James Robertson Justice, Stanley Baker, Christopher Lee and Sam Kydd.
