THE BBC has announced a season of shows which will "bang the drum" for Scotland, as well as a new series of three network comedies made in the country – Life Of Riley, The Old Guys and Rab C Nesbitt.
Alan Cumming, Peter Capaldi, Edinburgh-born Rory Bremner, Andrew Marr, Kirsty Wark, AL Kennedy and Charles Kennedy appear in a special month-long Scottish season on BBC4 in the autumn.
Programmes will celebrate and examine aspects of Scottish cu
lture, art, film-making, heritage, landscape and psyche. BBC1 sitcoms Life of Riley, starring Caroline Quentin and Neil Dudgeon, and The Old Guys – starring Roger Lloyd Pack, Clive Swift, Jane Asher and Katherine Parkinson – will be returning to BBC Scotland's studios.
Rab C Nesbitt, played by Gregor Fisher, has also been commissioned for another run on BBC2. All three series go into production in Glasgow later this year.
BBC director-general Mark Thompson said: "The Scottish season will explore and celebrate the enormous cultural contribution Scotland has made and bang the drum for Scottish creativity." Mr Thompson reported network production growth in Scotland from 3.3 to 3.7 per cent in 2008, and forecast a further rise of 5 to 6 per cent.
The BBC said its aim of producing more programmes north of the Border – in proportion to Scotland's share of the UK population – was on track.
