Stars to herald launch of BBC channel

● Nina Nesbitt and Lewis Capaldi will feature in variety show’s line-up

Singing stars Lewis Capaldi and Nina Nesbitt will launch BBC Scotland’s new TV channel – as part of an opening night line-up featuring comedy favourites Still Game and Burnistoun and a documentary on Scotland’s biggest Asian wedding planners.

Love Island host Iain Stirling will present a one-hour variety show – recorded at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal – featuring Capaldi, Nesbitt and other music and comedy stars, which the BBC says will deliver “a feel-good factor”.

The opening night on Sunday 24 February will also feature a “People’s News” programme giving which will give ordinary Scots the chance to have their say on burning issues – the night before BBC Scotland launches The Nine – the new “nightly news hour” show fronted by Rebecca Curran and Martin Geissler.

0 Nina Nesbitt will feature in a one-hour variety show

And the BBC has confirmed that Scotland’s answer to Question Time, to be known as Debate Night, will launch in the opening week.

The BBC said The People’s News will shun the “usu-

al media commentators” in favour of letting members of the public “speak their minds on the subject of the week’s news, events and gossip.” Although its host and format have yet to be revealed, the hour-long Debate Night, which will launch at 10.45pm on 27 February, will explore “the big issues affecting Scotland and beyond.”

The line-up includes documentaries following fashion vlogger Jamie Genevieve, going behind the scenes at Scotland’s famous stone skimming championships on the west coast island of Easdale, and showcasing the experts who treat animals injured across the country.

The Grey Area, a gritty Edinburgh-set drama on the consequences of gang violence and drugs, which has been made by – and will star – Garry Anthony Fraser, a former heroin addict who has been mentored by Danny Boyle and Irvine Welsh, will also be shown in the first week.

Two episodes of the final series of Still Game will be premiered in the channel’s first week. A one-off special of Burnistoun, the sketch show created by comic Robert Florence, will be going after Still Game on the opening night.

Other highlights of the first week include Test Drive, a new “car-based game show” fronted by Scottish wrestling star Graeme “Grado” Stevely, which will see teams of competitors answer questions via a specially-adapted sat-nav to determine their route to a well-known tourist destination.