0:00:02 > 0:00:05We first got television in Scotland in 1952. 1952!
0:00:05 > 0:00:07That's the year the Queen became, well, Queen,
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Prime Minister Winston Churchill scrapped identity cards,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13the first ever passenger jet flew across the Atlantic,
0:00:13 > 0:00:18and the first TV detector van was commissioned.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21They didn't waste any time, did they?
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Tonight we're on the mean streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37with some of the great moments from the last 60 years
0:00:37 > 0:00:39of television drama.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42Now, 80% of Scots live in a city.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Right from the beginning, television tried to show us
0:00:44 > 0:00:48our own lives on the box, sometimes more successfully than others.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51The McFlannels, the oldest Scottish drama in the BBC's archives,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53was made in 1958.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57I think it's fair to say it hasn't exactly stood the test of time.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02Hurry up, for goodness' sake!
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Take that. Shift this sideboard out the road.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09Do me a favour - just come out of there and let me in!
0:01:09 > 0:01:11I need to put my feet on it.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13All right...
0:01:13 > 0:01:15- You're not hurt, Peter, are you? - No, no!
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Don't worry - things got better. Much better.
0:01:20 > 0:01:21Oh!
0:01:21 > 0:01:25In the 1970s, Peter McDougall started his television career
0:01:25 > 0:01:28by writing four stunning plays that really tell it how it is,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30or was, in Scotland.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33Peter was working as a painter and decorator down in London.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36He stretched his tea-breaks by telling stories about how
0:01:36 > 0:01:39he'd twirled a baton as a boy at the head of an Orange band.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41The man whose house he was painting
0:01:41 > 0:01:44said he should try and write a script about it - so he did.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Just Another Saturday is deceptively simple.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51The whole thing takes place over one day, the day of an Orange march.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Cheerio, John!
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Cheerio!
0:01:56 > 0:01:59God bless King Billy, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh!
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Shut up, for goodness' sake!
0:02:06 > 0:02:10It's one boy's journey from the excitement of belonging
0:02:10 > 0:02:13to something darker and more complicated.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21The filming almost didn't happen.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24The Chief Constable of Glasgow City Police told the BBC
0:02:24 > 0:02:27a play about the Orange march would cause
0:02:27 > 0:02:31"bloodshed on the streets in the making and in the showing".
0:02:35 > 0:02:38And of course all that still goes on.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41All this stuff that's going on between Celtic, Rangers,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44and Neil Lennon being attacked constantly,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48and bomb threats - that all comes from the same place.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Of course it does.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53But it's not gone away, it's not got any better.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56THEY SING TOGETHER
0:03:01 > 0:03:03This feels incredibly real, and that's because a lot of it is.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09The production team filmed it documentary-style,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12with actors mingling with the crowds.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22This isn't just great drama, it's a record of life in Glasgow in the '70s.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Mind yer feet, son.
0:03:25 > 0:03:26What is it?
0:03:26 > 0:03:28I've lost my teeth.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Graeme McDonald, the producer, simply said,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33"Have you got anything else you want to do?"
0:03:33 > 0:03:37and I said, "Well, my sister's just got married to a Catholic",
0:03:37 > 0:03:40and it was commissioned like that,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43and of course, that became Just Your Luck.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45There's nothing can be done about it noo, is there?
0:03:45 > 0:03:48By Christ, no - and don't you be thinking otherwise!
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Just Your Luck tells the story of a young girl who falls pregnant.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Here she's telling her mother, and it's not going too well.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58The claustrophobia of that wee tenement flat really adds to the power of the scene.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00You never told me onything, did ye?
0:04:00 > 0:04:03If they didn't teach you at the school, that's hard lines!
0:04:03 > 0:04:04It's no' for me to tell you.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07You've been working in a chemist shop since you left the school.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10- Could you not have laid your haunds on some kind o' thing?- Sure...
0:04:10 > 0:04:11Tell me, what kind o' a thing?
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Here the actors are almost bouncing off the walls.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Hey, Mammy, there's something else...
0:04:20 > 0:04:21He's a Catholic.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Oh, God forgive me
0:04:24 > 0:04:28for bringin' you into this world!
0:04:28 > 0:04:32My mother met somebody in Woolworth's after it was on,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35and they were discussing it cos it had made such an impact,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and my mother actually said to this women that she met,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42"Aye - it can happen, things like that, you know."
0:04:42 > 0:04:45I thought, there goes the denial again.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48"It can happen" - you cannae see that was your own daughter!
0:04:48 > 0:04:52It's not surprising to hear this is based on Peter's own life.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56This week we're all be the one big family.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57The writing is so sharp and true.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00OK, Alison, hen...
0:05:00 > 0:05:05Your mammy and me have fixed up the wedding for next Saturday.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07'I phoned my mother and said "I've got this".'
0:05:07 > 0:05:10I said, "a bit of language in it".
0:05:10 > 0:05:13"Oh!" And the line went sort of quiet and then she said,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15"Oh, well done then, dear."
0:05:15 > 0:05:18And about two hours later she phoned and said,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22"You don't have to say "F" do you, Eileen?"
0:05:22 > 0:05:24And I said, "Well, yes, I do."
0:05:27 > 0:05:30The young groom is David Hayman, in an early television role.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37'I vividly remember we were going in to shoot
0:05:37 > 0:05:39'the wedding sequence in Greenock'
0:05:39 > 0:05:44and the police stayed back and said, "We cannot offer you protection.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47"You go at your own risk.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50"We just suggest that if anything untoward happens,
0:05:50 > 0:05:54"you jump into fast cars and get out of there as fast as you can."
0:05:54 > 0:05:57That was all the cops did, and then they stayed back.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01I don't know what they thought was going to happen to us!
0:06:01 > 0:06:03It was cowboy country in those days.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Peter's next play, Just A Boy's Game,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10is about what it means to be a Glasgow hard man.
0:06:10 > 0:06:11What's going on here?
0:06:11 > 0:06:14It's OK, Harry. It's OK, mate. It's just a drunk boy.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18I thought you'd given up thae games, McQuillan.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Here's the singer Frankie Miller playing the lead.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22He's charismatic and he's dangerous.
0:06:24 > 0:06:25OK?
0:06:25 > 0:06:29Take it easy, Jake. It's his lassie.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31That's my bird.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35Serves you right.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37I won't let you wade in.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Move, ya choob! Make way for a living legend.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44'And who's this, in an early role,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47'before he took to the string vest?'
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Mary! Mary!
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Shout "Cinzano Bianco" and see if it works.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58This might have looked very familiar watching in Glasgow,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01but for most of the audience sitting down in front of the TV
0:07:01 > 0:07:03in Oxfordshire, Cornwall or Birmingham,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06this was like a window onto an unknown world.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09For the first time ever, Scottish voices were telling
0:07:09 > 0:07:13contemporary Scottish stories on television, and Britain was watching.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18Peter McDougall returned to the Orange March in 1993.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20This time Billy Connolly's using the parade
0:07:20 > 0:07:22to drown out the sound of his bank heist.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Look at the rhythm and energy in this.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26ALL CHEER
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Wooh!
0:07:38 > 0:07:41So the idea of the Orange band and the robbery,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44I mean it's just... it's just brilliant!
0:07:44 > 0:07:47And in a funny sort of way, it makes the film.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51One, two, one, two, three!
0:07:51 > 0:07:53EXPLOSION
0:07:53 > 0:07:54THEY LAUGH
0:07:57 > 0:07:59You can tell it's by him.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04If you watch the television now, it's typists.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07As Truman Capote said, "There's writers and typists".
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Peter is a writer.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16Now, when it comes to television, crime is the gift that just keeps on giving.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18This next one's a very early television drama
0:08:18 > 0:08:21about a man that's lost his memory. That's pretty wacky,
0:08:21 > 0:08:22but check out these TV cops.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24You can't prove it, can you?
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Of course not, I can't prove anything.
0:08:26 > 0:08:27Then we've no reason to arrest you.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30I'll damn well give you a reason.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32Three Ring Circus was a critical success,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34rather than a ratings winner.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41Have a wine gum, very soothing, take your mind off your troubles.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46And ten years later, the BBC had a huge popular hit
0:08:46 > 0:08:48with a new crime show.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55Daniel Pike is a hard-boiled private eye
0:08:55 > 0:08:58with a fine line in Glasgow patter.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02D'you know Jimmy Bryce?
0:09:02 > 0:09:06I've heard we're the same blood group, rhesus inquisitive.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Take it from me, it's better not to tangle with him.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10And you would know, eh?
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Roddy McMillan made this in between episodes of The Vital Spark.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14Very versatile.
0:09:14 > 0:09:15I'm a boilermaker by trade.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17- But unemployed.- Well...
0:09:18 > 0:09:22- About this coffee stall business... - I tell you, I'm not interested.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26You're er...you're no' a grass?
0:09:26 > 0:09:28I'm not even a front lawn.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30What's your game?
0:09:30 > 0:09:33I'm a black belt at Ludo. After that, anything that pays the rent.
0:09:37 > 0:09:38You say you're out of work, eh?
0:09:40 > 0:09:43You know, I think I've got a job for a lad like you -
0:09:43 > 0:09:45that's if you're interested.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50The BBC made two series of this. It's rough, tough and dirty.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57HE MOANS
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Of course, when you think of crime in Scotland, Taggart's the daddy.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Kicking off 28 years ago, it was a huge popular success.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Not even the death of its star Mark McManus midway through its run could stop it.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23This is the first ever Taggart, from 1983,
0:10:23 > 0:10:24and it's pretty good.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26PHONE RINGS
0:10:26 > 0:10:28If that goonie isn't in the People's Palace
0:10:28 > 0:10:31next to Billy Connolly's banana boots, then I want to know why.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37Glasgow's a hard city.
0:10:37 > 0:10:38I'm aware of that.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41I really love McManus's minimal acting style.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43What public school did that accent come out of?
0:10:43 > 0:10:45He's a Glaswegian Charles Bronson.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47You wait here.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55The early Taggarts, when you look back at them,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59they were done I think over a three week period, it was a three-parter.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01And people would talk about it, you know,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04they'd watch the first one, then they'd talk about it at work
0:11:04 > 0:11:07with their mates, and everybody would have their own opinion
0:11:07 > 0:11:08as to who was the guilty party.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10'And so it built up that kind of audience.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14'I don't think anything else was doing that at that time.'
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Right from the beginning, Taggart really makes the most of Glasgow.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19The city was as big a character as any of the cops.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26It's the Glasgow location and the way they use it
0:11:26 > 0:11:29that made Taggart feel tougher and rawer than the competition.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34I care about this city,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37the people, what's happening.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41You look like you haven't slept for days caring about it.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46It disnae seem right...
0:11:46 > 0:11:51Mark McManus died of pneumonia in 1994. He was only 59.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53He was a hard act to follow.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56They thought about changing the name,
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Taggart's People, Taggart's Patch, whatever.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02But then they thought, well, that's the brand,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Taggart is the brand name.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Everybody knows it all round the world, however many countries,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13it depends which paper you read, it's either hundreds or it's 65,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16but lots of countries all over the world, they all know that name.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19It's a great name, real kind of grrrr - TAGGART!
0:12:22 > 0:12:26Alex Norton joined the show as DCI Matt Burke in 2002.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Tyre marks leading to the body - looks like he was driven here, dumped and then shot.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Jesus, what a mess.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36They're still making the most of the Glasgow cityscape,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38and the Glasgow gangster.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41There's multiple lacerations to his face, red weals on his wrists,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43suggesting he was tied up beforehand.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Two bullets to the back of the head, nine millimetre.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49I have a hunch it was premeditated.
0:12:49 > 0:12:50Could be.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Drug wars?
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Every two-bob dealer thinks he's Dillinger.
0:12:55 > 0:12:5811 years with Mark as Taggart, and 16 years without him.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01It's Britain's longest-running cop series,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03and it seemed like it would keep on running forever,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06dropping characters, getting shorter, looking cooler.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10Then in 2010, the ITV network lost its appetite for it,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12and killed it off. "Yer nicked!"
0:13:13 > 0:13:16But Taggart's Glasgow is Beverly Hills compared to this.
0:13:25 > 0:13:26DOORBELL RINGS
0:13:26 > 0:13:29This is David Hayman playing Jimmy Boyle.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31He's the ultimate Glasgow hard man.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34He's as compelling as he's repulsive.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36It's an unforgettable performance.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38- What is it, Tam?- >
0:13:38 > 0:13:42You and your mob stay away from my business.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Don't let him forget what I said
0:13:44 > 0:13:47or from tomorrow, you'll only be needing one pint.
0:13:47 > 0:13:48HE SMASHES THE GLASS BOTTLE
0:13:50 > 0:13:53I'd known Jimmy for seven years and respected him,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55and respected the man that he had become,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58and the political animal that he was at that time.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03I didn't want to in any way give...an impersonation of Jimmy.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07That would've been an insult to him and also an insult to my talent.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09I had to find the Jimmy Boyle in me -
0:14:09 > 0:14:12the man I would've become if I'd taken Jimmy's route
0:14:12 > 0:14:14rather than take the route to acting,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16using the same background influences
0:14:16 > 0:14:21and the same levels of social deprivation that we both came from.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28I think A Sense Of Freedom's one of the best prison dramas ever made.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30These scenes were all shot in Dublin,
0:14:30 > 0:14:35because the Scottish prisons didn't want anything to do with the filming.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37You really think you can assault a governor?
0:14:40 > 0:14:42HE YELLS
0:14:46 > 0:14:48'To be meting out violence
0:14:48 > 0:14:51'and to being on the receiving end during the prison sequences,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55'which form the biggest part of the movie, was very, very difficult.'
0:14:55 > 0:14:59John Mackenzie was not a director who worked with fight arrangers,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01who worked with stuntmen.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04He would go into a queue of unemployed people on the dole
0:15:04 > 0:15:07in Dublin and just take out 20 or 30 or them,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11and say, "Here's a pair of hobnailed boots, here's a uniform and a truncheon.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14"Go and kick David Hayman in a sequence."
0:15:14 > 0:15:16There was nothing choreographed at all.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23It was quite scary.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26It was a very exhilarating, adrenaline-pumping,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29visceral ride, making A Sense Of Freedom.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31SIRENS WAILING
0:15:33 > 0:15:34GLASS SMASHING
0:15:40 > 0:15:44Now, that tough Glasgow spirit might show its dark side in Jimmy Boyle,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47but it isn't just about hard men with knives.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51In 1990, The Ship reminds us where that Glasgow grit comes from,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55how it was forged in the hardship and community of work in the yards.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58The Ship was created as a spectacular piece of theatre
0:15:58 > 0:16:00by writer-director Bill Bryden.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04It was part of Glasgow's City of Culture in 1990.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07The BBC did help pay for it, so it was made into television too,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10but as you can see from this clip, it doesn't pretend it isn't theatre.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15It uses the theatre audience to create a sense of occasion.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18The decision to build the liner on the Clyde
0:16:18 > 0:16:21was absolutely unanimous!
0:16:21 > 0:16:22CHEERING
0:16:27 > 0:16:30It was a real community effort,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33and we had a wonderful company of actors to do it,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37a lot of whom are sadly passed.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40And it was a unique experience, I think.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47The Ship happened in the Harland and Wolff engine shed
0:16:47 > 0:16:49on the south side of Glasgow.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55And during the show, you watched the actors build a real ship,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57from plans to launch.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Once The Ship is over, the industry's over.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15And I found that... I found that immense.
0:17:15 > 0:17:16'That's the point.'
0:17:17 > 0:17:21I don't like folk thinking I'm nae use to anybody.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25I could man my post!
0:17:26 > 0:17:28I could!
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Never take the redundancy, Rab.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40The cheque has no' been written that would make it worth your wh...
0:17:44 > 0:17:48In the early days of television, Glasgow was the place for your hard men,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50and Edinburgh was all wigs and gaiters
0:17:50 > 0:17:52and of course, the unforgettable Miss Jean Brodie.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54We'll get to her next week.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57Then in 1986, Brian Cox and Jimmy Nail changed all that
0:17:57 > 0:18:01when they starred in one of Scotland's best ever crime dramas.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03It was written by Peter McDougall.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06I'm sorry if this is getting a bit monotonous but the man's a genius.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11In Shoot For The Sun, Peter showed us Edinburgh as we have never seen it before.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Your eyes do look bad.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15You should see them from my BLEEP side.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16LAUGHTER
0:18:21 > 0:18:24You might've noticed a bleep there. The original's a wee bit sweary,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26but it went out at ten at night, and we don't.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32Jimmy Nail and Brian Cox are entrepreneurial drug dealers.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33Is there any other kind?
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Why do you think Johnson says his buyers can't afford five quid bags?
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Shufflin' skint?
0:18:42 > 0:18:43Cos they're bairns.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50He's selling 'em to BLEEP bairns from the school, you daft toerag!
0:18:50 > 0:18:52Whoa, take it easy!
0:18:53 > 0:18:54I'm working without a net.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Peter McDougall had this incredible reputation in Just Another Saturday,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01which I'd seen and was incredibly impressed by,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and he is one of the great dialogue writers of all time, Peter.
0:19:04 > 0:19:05I mean, he really is.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09I want us to get back to ordinary things,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13like blowing up armoured cars and that.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Something worthwhile.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20'I'm a Dundonian, but I see myself as an East Coaster as opposed to a West Coaster.'
0:19:20 > 0:19:23There's a sort of sensibility which is slightly different.
0:19:23 > 0:19:29And this was really about the Edinburgh that people don't see.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Check out this next scene with the Granny trying to do the best
0:19:34 > 0:19:36for her junkie daughter and the child.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40I'm only asking you to look after the bairn a few days
0:19:40 > 0:19:42so as I can help him.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44Always "only" this, and "only" that.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Like when you borrowed my "only" savings, "only" you never paid me back.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Nae harm to the wee bairn, but I've done my bit.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57I've brought up a family.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00This is ten years before Trainspotting, remember.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Ma, he's my man. I've got to stick by him.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10Stick by him(!) The jail's where I'd stick him.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13He's a soulless waster and he'll have you whoring for him.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Darkness and humour are so vital to the Scottish character
0:20:17 > 0:20:21because they can be very dark and they can be very funny,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and also they can be dark and funny at the same time
0:20:24 > 0:20:27and they can switch, which gives them a real dynamic.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31Peter is a truly astonishing writer in that way. You know.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37You're sweating like a rapist there.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Shock, son. Shock.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45Terrible. Them boys broke into my house and fleeced me.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Me a pensioner too.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51I mean, on a Monday, I buy three pound of mince
0:20:51 > 0:20:53and cook it up for the rest of the week -
0:20:53 > 0:20:57but they weren't happy just looting and plundering
0:20:57 > 0:20:58my wee bit possessions.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Do you know what they did, son?
0:21:00 > 0:21:05- One of the dirty- BLEEP - did a shite in my mince!
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Done a shite in my mince.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14I had to throw half of it away.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25If Glasgow belongs to Taggart then Edinburgh belongs to Rebus.
0:21:25 > 0:21:26Unlike Taggart,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Rebus never disappeared from his own series.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36But he did have some fairly major plastic surgery.
0:21:37 > 0:21:38Seems to have aged a bit too.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41But Ken Stott's probably nearer to Ian Rankin's Rebus.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Open this. I'll deal with it.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Here he is mulling over a tricky case in The Oxford,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51his Edinburgh local.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56There's an awful lot of drink taken in these dramas.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Anyone would think we were a nation of alcoholics.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Count how the units add up in the next 24 seconds.
0:22:10 > 0:22:11What's the plan?
0:22:11 > 0:22:14We stop here and get pissed.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19He's a terrible man for drink.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22He'd suck it through a baby's soiled nappy.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Have an advocaat!
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Meredith, I really love you...
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Sorry, Mrs Johnson. Is Meredith in?
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Sorry, Mr Johnson. Is Mrs Johnson there?
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Is anybody home?
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Of course Scotland isn't just Edinburgh and Glasgow.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53There are cities outwith the central belt.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56That's what the producer must have told the BBC in 1991,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58when he pitched them Jute City.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00So what's it like in Dundee then?
0:23:00 > 0:23:03According to this, I'd say it was pretty mental.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08A poor candidate in a state of darkness, who has been recommended.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11According to writer and local boy David Kane,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14just look where the movers and shakers of Dundee get up to
0:23:14 > 0:23:16on a Saturday night.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21..Humbly soliciting to be admitted to the mysteries and privileges of freemasonry.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25In the real world, Margaret Thatcher might have just left Downing Street in tears
0:23:25 > 0:23:28but the criminals in this drama are Thatcherite entrepreneurs,
0:23:28 > 0:23:33outsourcing contaminated waste, and a few dead bodies, to the Highlands.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36It's great stuff, and it's funny.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38What do you see out there, Kerr?
0:23:39 > 0:23:41I'll tell you what you see.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45You see the majority - cattle.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Excess fat on the national body
0:23:47 > 0:23:50like mindless herds waiting to be prodded this way or that,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52following in each other's shite.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56We're not like them, Kerr.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01We didnae crawl out of the swamps and develop into intelligent beings
0:24:01 > 0:24:05because we had a fail-safe social security system.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09It was the desire to succeed that dragged us forward -
0:24:09 > 0:24:12the desire for power.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Nice rug. Awfy nice.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Nah, nah, nah...
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Here we are with that old guy in a lift again. It's the same guy!
0:24:21 > 0:24:24A nice piece of Axminster... Must be loaded.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28One of the challenges about filming in Dundee is that amazing accent.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30I'll gie ye's a fai-ver fer it.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32- A what?- A fai-ver.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34- A fe-tha?- Eh?
0:24:34 > 0:24:37What in the name of God is a fe-tha?
0:24:37 > 0:24:38(A fiver.)
0:24:38 > 0:24:40It's not for sale. It's been donated.
0:24:40 > 0:24:41Whauraboots?
0:24:41 > 0:24:43Welly boots?
0:24:43 > 0:24:44Whereabouts?!
0:24:44 > 0:24:46The old people's welfare.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50I must have watched hundreds of scenes with a dead body in a rug,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52but I've never seen anyone try and blag the rug before.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55I'm an old person. I'd benefit fae that rug!
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Well, you're no' gonnae benefit fae it, so shut up!
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Looking at these city dramas, Scotland feels like a man's world.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07There are women there obviously, but they're wives, girlfriends, victims,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11sidekicks - they're not centre stage, telling their own stories.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13But this next one, well, it's all about the women,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and that's part of the reason why it's one of the most successful
0:25:16 > 0:25:19and best-loved Scottish dramas ever made.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21The Steamie started life in the theatre.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Then STV spotted a hit.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Watching it again, it's easy to see why.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31THEY SING A TANGO TUNE
0:25:42 > 0:25:46And it's Eileen McCallum playing a blinder here again.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48From Peter McDougall's plays back in the '70s
0:25:48 > 0:25:51to River City today, she's one of those great Scottish actors
0:25:51 > 0:25:54who can make television feel real and true.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59Then why is Niamh Corrigan's photograph on this one?
0:26:03 > 0:26:04You...and Niamh?
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Mother...
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Oh, dear God! And...
0:26:10 > 0:26:14and you were going to have us believing that you were dead?
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Gina! Where is Gina!
0:26:16 > 0:26:18- Shut up!- Gina!
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Eileen's been in everything, but The Steamie is a standard.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24- Gie us the phone.- There isnae one! - I know that - gie us it anyway.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25Hello, Doreen.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Are you up to your ears in it, hen?
0:26:28 > 0:26:29Goodness me, yes!
0:26:29 > 0:26:32What with the workmen being in...
0:26:32 > 0:26:33'I loved it. It hit the balance.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37'It wasn't maudlin at all, but it was very moving.'
0:26:37 > 0:26:41You see, John and I are going to the opera tonight.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45'I loved Katy's character and that sort of...'
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Doris Day sort of number about Drumchapel, you know?
0:26:48 > 0:26:51It was just lovely. It was beautiful. It says it all.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54That was her aspiration, to have a place in Drumchapel.
0:26:54 > 0:27:00# Where all my dreams come true
0:27:02 > 0:27:07# I'll be waitin' in the queue
0:27:08 > 0:27:13# For a house on an avenue
0:27:13 > 0:27:17# Where dreams come true. #
0:27:17 > 0:27:22'Cos I was brought up in the East End of Glasgow, and it had a resonance.'
0:27:22 > 0:27:25A very powerful resonance because those places
0:27:25 > 0:27:29were set up to be Nirvana, and it didn't turn out that way,
0:27:29 > 0:27:34And I thought it had a real poignancy and power
0:27:34 > 0:27:37and sort of political edge, really,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40about what had happened to my character and her dreams.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43In America, they've all got them in their houses,
0:27:43 > 0:27:44but they call them showers.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Is that no' just in the pictures?
0:27:47 > 0:27:49The Steamie was set in the '50s,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52when the first television sets were coming to Scotland.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54And refrigerators. Telephones as well.
0:27:54 > 0:27:55Aye. Televisions too.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59My sister Jenny's daughter's husband's bought one of them!
0:27:59 > 0:28:02No! A television? You ever seen it?
0:28:02 > 0:28:05No, Jenny's seen it. She says it's great!
0:28:05 > 0:28:07In this sharp, funny scene we're made to wonder
0:28:07 > 0:28:10if one of the reasons we're all more isolated today might be the television.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14- Cost a fortune.- Aye, but you'd save money - you'd never need to go oot!
0:28:14 > 0:28:18But the best of television can help give us a sense of community.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21It happened when people watched television made in Scotland,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24that told stories about people that they felt they knew,
0:28:24 > 0:28:25in places they recognised.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27It's that Scottish sense of community
0:28:27 > 0:28:31that the women of The Steamie celebrate when they burst into song.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36# When you've got pals You've got something so rare
0:28:36 > 0:28:39# Tell me what could be as fine as
0:28:39 > 0:28:43# As some time with all your chinas
0:28:43 > 0:28:46# When you've got pals
0:28:46 > 0:28:50# Makes it easy to bear
0:28:50 > 0:28:52# All the pain And all the pressure... #
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd