SATURDAY NIGHT BELIEVER
Doyen Archie’s delighted Sportscene’s back in Saturday night primetime slot
SCOTTISH football fans are set to give Strictly a side step as Sportscene returns on a Saturday night.
The BBC have announced the highlights programme will be shown on a primetime slot for the first time in almost two decades.
Veteran commentator Archie Macpherson, the frontman of the show for 25 years during its heyday, admitted he’s chuffed to see it return to peaktime viewing.
He said: “I’m delighted to hear it’s returning to its very traditional and highly successful format.
“I still remember when Sportscene was attracting bigger audiences than anything else being broadcast at the time.
“There were occasions when people would virtually assault each other in the street if there was a risk of finding out the results from a match that Saturday afternoon.
“They wanted to wait to watch highlights later in the evening without knowing the score from a few hours’ previously.
“Sportscene was pushed into a corner, initially by ITV when they became the first broadcaster to show matches live.
“Yes, people want to watch live football but many have still missed recorded football highlights shows in recent years. They just didn’t always want to admit it.”
The new hour-long programme, featuring highlights of SPFL matches, kicks off at 7.30pm on August 1, the first day of the new Premiership season, on the BBC Scotland channel
It’s the first time the show is going out on a Saturday night since 2001-2 season, when it was broadcast after 10pm.
The show will be presented by Jonathan Sutherland, with former
Rangers and St Mirren striker Steven Thompson hosting a Sunday highlights package.
Scotland midfielder Leanne Crichton will present Friday night Championship action alongside Sutherland when the second tier returns on October 17.
BBC Scotland will announce their line-up of pundits for the new season next week, with Michael Stewart in line to return as matchday analyst.
Macpherson presented Sportscene and its predecessor, Sportsreel, for 25 years from 1962.
He added: “Viewers love live football but they also enjoy watching a well-edited programme, where all the warts and carbuncles of a game could be removed and made to look like the World Cup Final.
“You got away with nothing when you presented Sportscene. Old women even used to stop me in the street to criticise a tie I’d been wearing the week before.
“The punters hung on every word you uttered and I know colleagues from England couldn’t understand the intensity up here.
“I mean no disrespect to other Scottish clubs but that was almost exclusively a result of the Old Firm rivalry. Woe betide you if you edited a match for Sportscene and missed a penalty controversy from one side or the other.
“There was always great sensitivity around the way those games were edited – and the words you used within them.”
Steve Carson, the BBC’s head of multiplatform commissioning, said: “I’m delighted we’ve reached an agreement with the SPFL, bringing Premiership highlights back to Saturday nights. .
“The new programme will be an appointment to view for fans. It will add to the comprehensive coverage of Scottish football over the weekend, including the highlights programme on Sunday which will bring in-depth analysis of the big talking points as well as the key action.”