The Campbells: A comparison by season

Older Canadian members in particular might remember this fine series out of Canada from the 1980’s. This was probably my all time favorite series from the 1980’s. Here in the U.S. this series aired on what at the time, was labeled as The Family Channel.

Seasons 1 and 2 were top notch, and featured the full cast. S1 starts off in Scotland in the 1830's, and shortly afterwards the Campbell family decides to emigrate to the colonies in Canada, with the dream of owning their own farm. The first few seasons deal with the Campbell's adapting to their new home, as well as their neighbors. Captain Sims (Played by Cedric Smith, later of Avonlea fame) is a particularly challenging neighbor to the Campbell family, that also happens to hold a lot of sway in the community.

Season 3 took a hit when the actor that played Neil Campbell left the series towards the beginning. I recall being pretty bummed about this at the time, because Neil was one of my favorite characters. Up until this point, it was assumed that Neil would pair up with the beautiful Rebecca Sims (Captain Sims daughter, played by Wendy Lyon).

Season 4 Carried on with Capt Sims and the remaining Campbell family members, and John Wildman that played Neil did appear for more than a few guest appearances, so this was a pleasant surprise. Also featured more prominently were the Innkeeper Mrs Logan and her satanic terror of a son Thomas (he was a rambunctious little fellow as I recall 😀 ) who were first introduced to us at the beginning of season 3.

As a bit of side trivia, the girl that Neil married when he left the show, was the actress Catherine Disher (The good witch) who was married in real life at the time to the actor that played Capt Sims (Cedric Smith). I thought this was kind of interesting coincidence because in the series he was also married to a much younger woman. I will also add that we unfortunately lost actor Eric Richards that played the youngest Campbell son John. I was really sad to hear that he had lost his life at such a young age of 32. I thought that he played a great part in the series as well.