Scotland’s History is a new multi-platform project from BBC Scotland to bring the country’s history to life on screen, the internet and radio. Spearheading the project is a new landmark 10-part television series, 'A History Of Scotland', which will start on BBC Scotland in November this year, with a screening on network BBC Two at a later date. A History Of Scotland will use dramatic photography to capture the best of Scotland’s varied and breath-taking landscapes, including Finlaggan, the ancient seat of the Lords of the Isles. Presented by Neil Oliver, the series will be broadcast in two parts, first five episodes will transmit this winter, starting with the origins of Scotland and ending with the Unions of the Crowns in 1603. The second part, which will go out late next year, takes the story from the Covenanting movement through the Treaty of the Union right up to devolution.

Neil Oliver says: 'What better time could there be to look again at Scotland’s past, with people openly questioning the future of the Union and Britain? It is a great time for debate about Scotland’s identity and I passionately believe if you care about Scotland’s future you have to understand its past. It’s a gripping tale…with a cast of characters that is hard to beat, set against a landscape that is second to none.' Neil also believes that the time is right for a radical re-think of the general approach to Scottish history. He says: 'The beauty of Scotland is overwhelming but I’ve often thought that Scotland’s popular history is just like her landscape…impossibly romantic, obscured by mist and myth and always changing. Over the centuries, the romantic version has been of a 'lost cause' – the tragic victim - but this isn’t history, it’s Scottish mythology and this series is looking to explode the myths. 'We’ve lost touch with the past. I care passionately about this country and, on a very personal level as a Scot, I really want to understand its complex past, to get to the real story of what has made us the people we are today.'

This story was published with kind permission from the Ileach local newspaper.

Tag: scotland history finlaggan