Roaring 20s? Boring 20s more like So come back Jackie, all is forgiven
SUSAN CALMAN’S NOT QUITE END OF YEAR SHOW (BBC SCOTLAND) ★★✩✩✩ SEAN’S VERY SCOTTISH HOGMANAY (STV) ★★★✩✩
WHAT’S the old saying? Out with the old and in with the new. Well that was certainly the case for BBC Scotland viewers as the new decade, and Scotland’s favourite Ne’erday show, was ushered in not by the usual belle of the Bells, Jackie Bird, but by new host, lawyer turned stand up comedian and Radio 4 stalwart, Susan Calman.
And quite frankly, to call the biggest shake up to the Beeb’s Hogmanay programming in 20 years somewhat underwhelming is like saying the Labour party is in a bit of a mess right now.
If this is BBC Scotland’s idea of the roaring twenties ahead, God help us.
Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t so much that the show was bad, as decidedly lacking in New Year flavour or fervour, and awash with pre-recorded material. Frankly it was all... well, just a bit dull really. Actually, make that quite a big bit dull.
Biggest Scottish music star of the year? Lewis Capaldi. Who did Auntie serve up as one of the ‘super duper guests’ on the half-hour, Not Quite End Of Year Show chat show format prior to the main event alongside Scots actors James Cosmo and Mark Bonnar? Travis.
Oh, and some Scottish sports stars you might possibly never have heard of. Yes, it was that sort of night. Come the main Hogmanay show, which kicked off at 11.30pm, Calman was joined by comic Des Clarke and BBC sport and entertainment reporter Amy Irons. But for the most part it was pretty much more of the same staid, substandard Graham Norton, bland chinwag, with new guests including Line Of Duty’s Martin Compston and Jane McCarry from Still Game.
At least there was still some houseroom for traditional Scottish folk music, with Elephant Sessions doing their best to fill the gap left by regular first-footers Aly Bain and Phil
Cunningham, to whom Auntie also decided in their wisdom to give the boot this year.
Frankly, if it hadn’t been for the enthusiastic, and underused, Clarke reporting live from
Edinburgh’s Princes Street and Irons in Stonehaven for the traditional fireball ceremony, you’d hardly have known it was Hogmanay at all.
At least the fireworks in the capital helped the countdown to the Bells go with a bang. Albeit many viewers may have switched off by then. Definitely a case of back to the drawing board for BBC Scotland execs, I think. Come back, Jackie, all is forgiven.
OVER on STV, charming TV weatherman Sean Batty, natty in his kilt, was at the helm of the station’s Hogmanay output alongside former Miss Scotland Jennifer Reoch. And a decent fist he made of it, too, in what was much more traditional Scottish fare with the spectacular Craufurdland castle in Ayrshire providing the setting.
Delving into the history and traditions associated with Hogmanay along the way, viewers were shown how traditional Borders fruitcake Black Bun is made and why Dundonians ‘dress the herring’. Music came from Dougie MacLean, the man behind ‘Caledonia’, and folk singer Mairi Campbell. A show with plenty of couthy charm that proved this year’s winner in the battle of the Bells, although the ratings might suggest otherwise.