Did the PM really think a Highland fling could swing the election?

OUTlanDeR, the US fantasy drama set in Scotland, has been generating more Scots myths this week.

There’s speculation David Cameron had a meeting with its distributors, Sony, last July and asked them to hold off selling the series to TV stations in the UK.

apparently the heady mix of kilts, drop-scone accents and shirtless scenes with Sam heughan might have influenced voters in the independence referendum.

This theory is based on a single line in a leaked Sony email on Wikileaks, which refers to a meeting between Sony and the PM to discuss company investment, ‘particularly vis-à-vis the political issues in the UK as Scotland contemplates detachment’. how very intriguing!

But alas, according to an insider pal at Sony, it’s ‘pure fiction’. The meeting wasn’t a deal to keep Outlander out of the UK. Instead, Sony was keen to nail tax breaks and incentives for the next tranche of filming.

Sure enough, shortly after the meeting, it announced a second series of Outlander would be shot in Scotland.

In the past, Tony Blair authorised a similar deal with the makers of Steven Spielberg’s Band of Brothers over British locations.

even Outlander creator Di an a Gabaldon has rubbished the conspiracy theory, pointing out there is simply no evidence. also, by the time Mr Cameron and Sony met, the autumn TV schedules would have been locked up anyway.

In any case, it’s hard to see how Outlander could have helped the case for independence, given it features an attractive and steamy union between Scot Jamie, played by heughan, and english rose Claire, played by Caitriona Balfe, pictured left. CAFFEINATED apples are on the way, courtesy of an America biotechnology company. It can only be a matter of time before Starbucks staff start misspelling my name on the side of a Granny Smith. Meanwhile, mankind still struggles to invent a grapefruit that doesn’t need to be eaten wearing a visor.