Projects in genres: Scottish

Synopsis

A typical day in the life of a not so typical old lady.

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Robert Burns overcomes his upbringing as a farm labourer to become the national poet of Scotland. Love comes his way in the form of Jean Armour but his attempts at securing a happy relationship are blighted by Jean's father who disapproves of Burns. Finally, Jean and Robbie are married and Burns tries to settle down to a happy married life, but the success of his literary career brings with it many temptations and he is unable to resist the attention of the aristocratic women who fawn upon him.   Finding difficulties in supporting his growing family of children, Burns seeks work as a local tax and excise officer in the port of Dumfries as Britain is threatened by the spread of the French Revolution. He meets and falls in love with married aristocrat Maria Riddell, and he is unwittingly exposed to rumour and innuendo. Siding with the sentiments of the revolution, his republican stance provokes retaliation from the aristocracy. Walter Riddell, Maria's husband, circulates false rumours to ruin his reputation. Systematically Burns is ousted from all polite society, and reduced to poverty by his government employers. Only his wife Jean and his friend Lewars stand by him.   Burns, blighted by illness since youth, bids to ease his suffering by giving in to the cures of Doctor Maxwell, who wrongly prescribes mercury. Faced with death, Burns reaffirms his love for Maria, and comes to terms with his powerlessness to right his many affairs and the tragedy of his marriage to Jean as he fights to make sure his work is not destroyed. 

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Dundee is the bingo capital of Britain. With the highest number of gambling establishments per capita of anywhere outside of Las Vegas, it's residents truly are bingoing mad. This documentary looks at the strong tradition of bingo playing in Dundee as seen through the eyes of a small section of bingo addicts - set against the city's industrial past. In this city bingo is not just a game, it's a lifestyle.

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Skagerrak is the story of being struck by happiness when you least expect it.  In their late twenties and tired of partying their way around the world, Danish Marie and Irish Sophie come ashore in Northern Scotland. After another drunken night they are soon parted from their accumulated cash.  Out of money and out of luck, ambitious Sophie pressures Marie into accepting a lucrative job as a surrogate mother.   Months later, Marie finds herself alone, life having taken a dramatic turn. Heavily pregnant, and waiting to terminate her pregnancy, she's on the run from the future parents, searching for Sophie's old flame, Ken. Marie ends up hiding with three other strange men in a seedy Glasgow garage. But then happiness strikes again.

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AD 575 - A shipwrecked maiden, Henini, must marry the mercenary Chieftain Cathen, but on her way to him she is kidnapped by the Angle tribesman Aedgar, who sees she has land, money and a troublesome entourage. She is carrying a holy relic to Scotland and must safely deposit the bones of St Andrew to Saint Mungo. However before she can do this Fingal, the warrior is assigned to give her safe passage - a journey which leads to her abduction and entrapment in a nunnery. Can Fingal save her?

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Davie Morgan is a marriage counsellor on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

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An unemployed swashbuckler despairs of ever taking to the waves again in this peculiar bittersweet comedy.

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Then and Now tells the story of a family from Iraq who left their home and came to live in Scotland five years ago. Mohammed, the father, was an officer in the Iraqi army. The programme tells how he was smuggled into Kurdistan as his wife and daughter escaped by another route. After a year waiting in a refugee camp in Turkey they were finally accepted as refugees in the U.K.

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When Amy, Larry and Tom stay overnight in a 'haunted' house they know what to expect: The usual ghosts and things that go bump in the night. It's disappointing when all they discover is an old building with dry rot. Amy's about to give up, but sets out to discover the truth about the house.

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Why are so many Scots throwing off their clothes in wild abandon to embrace the mad midges and chilly climates of Scotland? Because it's liberating! These bodies wrinkled or smooth, plump or slender just want to be free to breathe in the open air. The last taboo has been broken and old fashioned 'textiles' will have to like it or lump it.

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William always wanted to be a gangster. He turns his paper round into a racket and soon he's living like a 'made guy'. Just like in the mob movies he loves though, things quickly get out of control.

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Based on Richard Jobson's acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, Sixteen Years of Alcohol  is a gritty tale of one man's inner journey of self-discovery as he escapes from the tyranny of the past and tries to come to terms with an identity forged in violence and betrayal.