Harrigan is a half-hour Canadian children's show written, produced and hosted by Barry Dale. Running from 1969 to 1985, it aired locally out of CJOH-TV in Ottawa for 2 seasons before moving to CKWS-TV in Kingston. There, it aired locally for another 2 or 3 seasons before being syndicated across Canada.
Harrigan is a 209-year-old Leprechaun who sang, danced, told stories and played his clarinet. He lived in a forest where every day Miss Sunflower delivered mail on her unicycle, Mr. Green dropped in for stories and Deblyn the Elf pulled pictures submitted by viewers from a pot of gold. Guests dropped in to demonstrate scientific experiments, dance and sing, or to bring Harrigan up to date on safety rules. Marilyn Yeates and daughter Maurine demonstrated cooking and crafts.
Also included were videotaped segments of visits to various places, such as a bakery, a cheese factory, or a fire station.
The leprechaun character made his first appearance in the late 1960's on the CJOH-TV children's program "Sandbox." On 15 to 20 shows, Barry Dale as a leprechaun read stories and sang Irish songs.
This show provides examples of:
- Excited Kids' Show Host: Like most Canadian children's show hosts, this was averted with Harrigan himself.
- Older Than He Looks: Harrigan is 209 years old, yet his actor, Barry Dale, was in his 30s when he began portraying him.
- Signing-Off Catchphrase: "We're happy that all of you joined us today, we'll see you here next week, until then I'll say top of the morning to you every day!"
- Species Surname: A sunflower named Miss Sunflower
- Spelling Song: "H - A - double R - I - G - A - N, it's Harr-i-gan!"
- St. Patrick's Day Episode: Given that the show was hosted by a leprechaun, that parts of the show have him viewing pictures made by his target demographic through a pot of gold, and the presence of a shamrock on the show's logo in the intro, pretty much every episode qualifies.