Baffled by the Bafta snub to my kilty little pleasure
Pity the poor, noble Highlander Jamie Fraser: scourged by the redcoats, a price on his head, struggling with Claire, a bride who claims to have been transported from 1944 to the year 1743 – and now shut out of the Scottish Baftas.
there has been f ury on the Outlander hero’s behalf with the news that the American McMills and Boon saga failed to be nominated by Bafta Scotland in any category.
Members of the SNP have also been het up about the lack of the show on the BBC, a matter brought up with BBC Scotland’s commissioning editor at a Nats fringe meeting in Aberdeen at the weekend.
Was Outlander too politically exhilarating to be shown here before referendum day, September 18, 2014? there have been rumours that David Cameron used a meeting with the show’s production company to block UK screenings, despite the fact that by the time both parties met, the autumn national tV schedules had already been nailed down and Outlander locked out.
i do have some sympathy with UK Outlander fans who complain that the show can only be seen on DVD or Amazon Prime. i know very few people who have seen the whole of Outlander, perhaps because the first few episodes were widely reviewed and rather snottily dismissed by critics, including me, as a ragbag of Scotch myths and bodice-ripping: a Fifty Plaids of Grey, dressed to kilt but with nowhere to go.
i have to say i was wrong. Outlander has a lot more going for it, including a wry sense of humour. When Jamie the Highland clansman discovers that his new wife is far more sexually experienced, he pragmatically notes that at least ‘one of us should ken what they’re doing’.
Outlander also offers more historical detail than expected. During a witchcraft trial, Bill Paterson reminds the court that Scots law gives accused witches a defence – a luxury not given in England.
Sometimes it even combines history and playfulness. in one episode the heroine reworks Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B into a raunchy bothy ballad that becomes such a hit she embarks on the 18th century equivalent of a rock tour across the Highlands.
it’s also a subversive pleasure for a female audience, unfazed by arcane European history, excited by its WHY is Nicole Kidman doing the new Compare The Market advert when she has an Oscar at home? And are we really supposed to believe gorgeous Nicole could be remotely attracted to an animated meerkat?
Oh hang on: Tom Cruise. rough exteriors and apparently delighted by the way Jamie is made to confront his personal and cultural gender roles.
But it’s very clear why the BBC, itV, Channel 4 or even Channel 5 would not go near it.
there is a lot of sex and violence in Outlander, a lot of it quite explicit, some of it hard to watch.
Rape is pervasive; in particular, the finale includes a very difficult hour detailing the poisoning of sexual connection.
However sincerely handled, it’s hard to see how this could fit a primetime slot, and after 10pm budgetconscious programmers balance the cost of a period drama against an audience drifting to bed.
in the end, the unlimited film and television streaming service Amazon Prime got the UK rights because it is eager for content, and its audience does not have to observe traditional time slots.
yet the show, now filming its second series, has boosted Scottish tourism and provided jobs for Scots actors, technicians and hoteliers, while Sam Heughan, Caitriona Balfe and craggy clansman Graham Mctavish are on their way to stardom. Does Outlander really need a Scottish Bafta? Because it already looks like a success.