A push by the BBC to inform the nation about Scotland’s past starts this week, with mainstream television and radio, school broadcasts, websites, podcasts, interactive games, audio walks and more.
The “landmark” TV series, A History of Scotland, produced with the Open University, begins on Sunday evening and presents “a grand but in-depth sweep of more than 2,000 years of Scottish history”. Neil Oliver, archaeologist, historian and presenter, wants to “dispel the myths that have cursed Scotland’s past and uncover the real characters and events that have shaped its history.”
Schools TV takes up the theme for younger pupils (starting today) with quiz-based programmes involving four short films about the Romans in Scotland and a three-part drama on the Victorians.
A raft of broadcasts is planned for radio, including What You Didn’t Learn in School, which looks at topics that “slipped off the education radar” and examines why.
Special editions of Radio Scotland’s History Zone will be available online 247, as will a new Scotland’s History website, which features video clips from the BBC’s back catalogues and new ones.
www.bbc.co.ukradioscotland; www.bbc.co.ukscotlandshistory.