Stand-up comedian and presenter Iain Stirling explores the history of Saturday nights out across Scotland since the 1950s.

Stand-up comedian and presenter Iain Stirling explores the history of Saturday nights out across Scotland since the 1950s.
2017-12-31
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7.7Ewan McGregor narrates a captivating portrait of wild Shetland and traces the course of a breeding season as the animals on these remote islands battle for survival.
0.0Documentary telling the story of Balmoral, the royal family's most private residence. For over 150 years this Scottish castle has been home to royal traditions of picnics, stag hunting and kilts. From prime ministers to Princess Diana, life at this tartan-bound holiday home has not appealed to everyone. But there is another story of Balmoral, of how the royal family has played a role in shaping modern Scotland and how Scotland has shaped the royal family. Queen Victoria's adoption of Highland symbols, from tartan to bagpipes, helped create a new image for Scotland. Her values, too, helped strengthen the union between Scotland and England. Ever since, Balmoral has been a place that reflects the very essence of the royal family.
7.0Best-selling author Graeme Armstrong reveals his passion for rave, meeting some of the superstar DJs and hardcore party people who created the vibrant and little-explored world of the Scottish rave scene.
0.0In 1980, Jack Shae and Allen Moore, two ethnographic filmmakers from Harvard University, moved their families to the island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. Over the course of 18 months they documented the everyday lives and struggles of the crofters they lived among, whom were even then a vanishing breed. The film is in English and Gaelic. This carefully observed documentary by filmmakers Jack Shae and Allen Moore is a poetic ethnographic film in the style of their mentor, Robert Gardner (“Dead Birds”). It follows the rhythm of life on a wind-swept island in the Outer Hebrides through the four seasons and in the filmmakers’ observation of the day-to-day struggles of a vanishing society we see the deep-time legacy of their kind. The film is in English and Gaelic.
For 12,000 years wolves roamed Scotland. However, over three centuries ago, we exterminated them. This film reveals the rise and fall of the Scottish wolf and explores the question of whether they should be re-introduced. Wolves arrived as the last ice age ended, following the herds of deer and reindeer that crossed a now-lost land bridge from Europe. For thousands of years, wolves and humans shared the landscape as apex predators, with the wolf entering human art, myth and belief. However, farming put wolves and humans on a collision course, and, after centuries of persecution, wolves became extinct in Scotland. Since then, deer numbers have exploded, and many of Scotland’s woodlands have been stripped bare. Some argue for the wolf’s return. Could we, and should we, hear the howl of the wolf once more in the Highlands?
0.0Everyone knows Neil Armstrong came back from the Moon in 1969 – but it wasn’t until three years later, when the people of a tiny Scottish town stepped in, that he finally got home. Neil Armstrong and the Langholmites is a film about the day one of the world’s most famous men visited the small ‘burgh’ of Langholm and the profound emotional effect the place, and its people, had on the normally stoic astronaut. From Industria Studios and Duncan Cowles, director of acclaimed 2024 feature Silent Men, comes a wry and beautiful slice of Scottish life and a unique, lesser-known tale about one of America’s most famous sons.
0.0Alex Norton discovers how showbusiness has handled the portrayal of the Scottish accent. For over 100 years audiences have struggled to understand our braw brogue: silent Harry Lauder films attempted an accent in the captions, and in Hollywood's golden era , everyone wanted to paint their tonsils tartan- but as examples from Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles and Richard Chamberlain show, they couldnae. Then Disney made Brave and proved that it disnae have to be all bad!
Twenty years on from winning Pop Idol, Scottish singer Michelle McManus reflects on her roller coaster life and career, and revisits iconic TV talent show moments.
0.0Actor Mark Bonnar is on a mission to understand more about the Scottish new towns in which he grew up, exploring the street sculpture made by artists such as his dad in the 60s, 70s and 80s. He discovers why the new towns are there and how they enticed people out of the bigger cities, and uncovers the surprising ways in which public art changed the new towns and the new towns changed public art. Mark's father, Stan, made sculptures that stand to this day on the streets of Glenrothes, East Kilbride and the Scottish new town that never was, Stonehouse. These new towns employed town artists to make artworks in the very housing precincts the new residents were moving into.
6.0Celebrating Billy Connolly's 75th birthday and 50 years in the business, three Scottish artists - John Byrne, Jack Vettriano and Rachel MacLean - each create a new portrait of the Big Yin. As he sits with each artist, Billy talks about his remarkable life and career which has taken him from musician and pioneering stand-up to Hollywood star and national treasure.
0.0An array of brave 1950s water skiing girls and guys bring a bit of Hollywood glamour to the chilly waters of Loch Earn.
0.0Charts the life and career of Scottish boxer Ken Buchanan, the 1970-71 undisputed lightweight world champion.
0.0Visit Pitlochry, a “busy, bustling town” in the heart of the Scottish Highlands featuring boozing stags, ladies lunching, tweed and whisky galore!
The rivalry between football clubs Rangers and Celtic goes past typical name calling and dives into violence, racial slurs and pure hatred. The rivalry between Glasgow's "Old Firm" sides is the most famous in world football. It's the game's flagship loathing, proof of the power of the sport to inspire profound levels of tribal loyalty and a near-Pavlovian revulsion at anything to do with a rival. We examine the situation and try to get a handle on the political, religious, and national identity clashes that have shaped the rivalry, speak to fanzine editors on both sides of the divide and travel with the Bhoys' away support to a match at Tannadice.
0.0Robotic historians recount and examine the events leading up to the annihilation of humanity.
0.0Redemption: The James Pearson Story tells the controversial story of one of the World's best trad climbers, Englandʼs James Pearson. After a dramatic rise to become one of the top climbers in the UK, controversy surrounding the grading of his routes left him feeling ostracised from the climbing scene. The film tells James’ story and follows his return to the UK as he faces his demons and looks to redeem his place within the UK climbing community.
9.0Schooled in Fife, coming of age in a rock ’n’ roll band, then finding her forte was directing temperamental actors, Cora Bissett is no stranger to theatrical Scottish swearing. So who better to present a celebration of Caledonian cursing? This documentary sees Cora sing, swear and scrutinise why Scotland swears so well. Cora begins with the first hurdle – how does one discuss swear words on the BBC? Aunty Beeb is the institution that has been historically priggish about language - always bleeping words and apologising for those that slipped through. So Cora runs a list past BBC Scotland’s head of editorial standards to see what she can get away with.
10.0An award-winning wordless documentary that explores the architecture of the then new St. Peter's Seminary which is now seen as one of the most important post-war buildings in the United Kingdom. The film was made in celebration after architect Jack Coia was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1969. Winner of the Medalla de Bronce at the Fifth Union of International Architects Festival in Madrid (1975).
This fascinating musical exploration of Scotland retraces the journey taken in 1829 by acclaimed composer Felix Mendelssohn, which inspired some of his most famous works, such as the "Scottish" Symphony and "The Hebrides" overture. Travel from the majestic sites of the historic Edinburgh Castle, Scott Monument and Palace of Holyrood to the picturesque island of Staffa, home of the legendary Fingal's Cave.