The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
On location with a true star of the silver screen
Join Robin as he reels through some of Scotland’s best-loved film and TV locations
Start to list all the major films that have been shot in Scotland and you will be amazed at just how many there are. It should come as no surprise really, since the landscape has a dramatic cinematic quality to it, from epic mountains through to sweeping beach fringed coastlines, not to mention the kind of fairytale castles that Disney can only dream of.
So grab some popcorn and take a prime seat as I run through a reel of movie locations that will make the perfect backdrop for your next batch of holiday snaps.
Glories galore
The movie world’s fascination with Scotland is nothing new. Delve through the archives and you will come across the original Whisky Galore, from 1949. It was not actually filmed on Eriskay, the island that inspired Sir Compton Mackenzie’s novel, but on neighbouring Barra.
A remake was released last month, starring Eddie Izzard. Filming this time took in the Aberdeenshire villages of Portsoy and Pennan, St Abb’s Head in the Borders, St Monans in Fife’s East Neuk and even the Central Bar in Renton, West Dunbartonshire.
Hero’s welcome
A real breakthrough for Scotland on the world stage came in 1983 with the blockbuster Local Hero, which starred Burt Lancaster. The village at the centre of the action was sleepy wee Pennan and its red phone box became a mustvisit destination for fans.
Locals are well used to people walking into the Pennan Inn (www. thepennaninn.co.uk) to ask questions about the film.
If you are after the gorgeous starched white beaches which also featured prominently you will have to hot-foot it from the North Sea coast across to the Atlantic. The beach scenes were actually filmed on the pristine sands around Morar.
Land of legends
Scotland hit screens around the globe again with 1995’s epic Braveheart.
Mel Gibson took on the lead role of folk hero William Wallace and while it’s fair to say the film took a few shortcuts with history, it’s worth watching before you head for Glen Nevis where some of the key scenes were shot.
Hollywood was clearly on a Highland roll in 1995 since another homegrown legend, Rob Roy, also stepped into the spotlight that year. This time Liam Neeson did the honours as our version of Robin Hood.
Unlike Braveheart – which decamped across the Irish Sea for some shooting – Rob Roy was filmed entirely in Scotland. Look out for cameos from Glen Coe, Glen Nevis, and Glen Tarbert.
Back to Bond
James Bond represents a warrior of a very different type and Scotland has been a recurrent backdrop in the 007 films. One of its most memorable locations was Eilean Donan Castle, which became a spectacular Highland base for MI6 in 1999’s The World is Not Enough. Who could forget the machine gun bagpipes?
Kings of the castle
Doune Castle near Stirling has gained worldwide recognition recently as Castle Leoch in the epic time travelling TV smash Outlander but did you know this hulking fortress also featured in 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Head there today and you can enjoy an audio tour narrated by none other than Terry Gilliam.
Harry’s fame
What could be more fun than following in the filmic footsteps of the most famous wizard to have roamed the Scottish glens? Fans can hop on the
Jacobite (www.westcoastrailways.co.uk) steam train train that has starred in four of the Harry Potter movies and recreate the journey of the Hogwarts Express as it sweeps around the epic 21 arches of the Glenfinnan Viaduct.
Choose Edinbugh
A grittier Scotland was presented to the world thanks to Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting in 1996. The film launched the careers of Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle and Kevin McKidd and showed a slice of life that the tourist guides tend to overlook.
Much of the filming took place along the M8 motorway in Glasgow but the most iconic scene, when McGregor’s Renton legs it along Princes Street and is hurled on to the ground by a car on Calton Road, was most definitely filmed in Edinburgh.
This year saw the return of Boyle and the Trainspotting boys with T2 and a series of landmarks, including Edinburgh Airport, the Forth Bridge and the new Edinburgh tram lines, are all in there.
Starry Skye
Skye has emerged as a serious location player in recent years. The island’s cinematic lineage is strong too, dating as far back as the 1970s when The Land that Time Forgot (1975) featured the Quiraing hillside and the Old Man of Storr in its final scenes.
Stardust in 2007 saw Michelle Pfeiffer’s nefarious character Lamia stalk the Quiraing on a quest, while Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) had the area forming the spectacular landscape that stood behind the enchanted forest.
In autumn 2015, I was lucky enough to get along to the Edinburgh premiere of the Macbeth blockbuster starring man of the moment Michael Fassbender – another movie which makes much of Skye’s charms. Head here and you can tick off scenes that were shot at the Quiraing and the Old Man of Storr, as well as Glen Brittle Forest, the Fairy Pools and Sligachan.
The island’s mountains have more recently been called into action as the setting for the new King Arthur: Legend of the Sword film, which brought the largest of the Inner Hebrides back to global cinema audiences just last month. Some historians have raised the idea that Arthur may actually have been born in Scotland so Skye makes for an apt location.
Also due for release later this year is Transformers: The Last Knight, which again draws heavily on Skye as a backdrop.