The Flower Of Scottish Television Quiz

Answer: Andy Stewart

Born in Glasgow in 1933, Andy Stewart sprang to fame at the age of 18 when he was a stand-in Dame in a production of "Dick Whittington's Cat."

Pop stardom followed and he had a number of hit records, including "Scottish Soldier", which spent 36 weeks in the UK charts n 1961.

A versatile entertainer, he also toured in the USA - where he impersonated Dean Martin on "The Ed Sullivan Show" - and Canada.

He also dropped an Elvis Presley impersonation into his song "Donald Where's Your Troosers", which was a hit in 1969 and soared to number four in the UK on re-release in 1989.

As "The Independent" noted in an obituary in 1993: "Andy Stewart, the kilted minstrel, was the Englishman's image of Scotland in the Fifties and Sixties."

Stewart starred in "The White Heather Club", a variety show that ran from 1958 to 1968, and also the similarly named New Year's Eve special from 1957 to 1968.

While the shows were popular with TV viewers, they were often criticised for their saccharine portrayal of a Scotland that did not exist. In 2006, the "Penguin TV" companion voted "The White Heather Club" one of the '20 worst TV shows ever'.

Answer: Taggart

For almost a quarter of a century, the seamy side of Glasgow was portrayed in the hit TV series "Taggart".

The show was named after the lead investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart, when it first aired in 1983. Taggart was played by Mark McManus, who died in 1994 after appearing in 77 episodes. It was so popular that the producers decided to carry on and it continued until 2010 - though was never renamed.

At one time "Taggart" was described as "the original Nordic noir", and certainly the viewers liked it.
By 2008, though, the weeds had started to grow. In the "Guardian" newspaper, Jane Gordon wrote: "It breaks my heart as a proud Glaswegian, but it is time to zip up the body bag and put 'Taggart' in the morgue. This once great Scottish stalwart has finally flatlined. In short, 'Taggart' is now truly, embarrassingly, awful..."

At its height, "Taggart" attracted over 8 million viewers and was shown in 60 countries.

Answer: Glendarroch

"Take The High Road" was first broadcast in 1980 and continued until 2003 - with a renaming to "High Road" along the way.

This was not Scotland's first soap opera. Before that had been "Garnock Way", which shared some of the actors and characters.

With its tales of rural folk, "High Road" was broadcast nationally in the UK until 1993, when it was dropped by all but Scottish, Border, Grampian and Ulster local stations.

Answer: Dr Finlay's Casebook

Two hundred episodes of "Dr Finlay's Casebook" were shown between 1962 and 1971.

Telling the exploits of a country doctor in the Highlands in the 1920s, it was taken from the short stories of the author A. J. Cronin, who based them on his own experiences as a doctor.

Andrew Cruickshank played the head of the practice, Dr Cameron, and he was supported by Bill Simpson as his assistant, Dr Finlay, and Barbara Mullen as their housekeeper, Janet MacPherson.

ITV revived "Doctor Finlay" in 1993 with Ian Bannen, Annette Crosbie and David Rintoul playing the main parts. In 2001, John Gordon Sinclair took on the title role in new adaptations of Cronin's stories for BBC Radio 4.

Answer: Wee Jock

Robert Carlyle played the titular hero in "Hamish MacBeth" between 1995 and 1997.

The comedy/drama show was based on the novels of M.C. Beaton. It ran to 20 episodes in three series.

Carlyle played MacBeth as a copper not afraid to bend the rules in keeping the peace in the small highland town of Lochdubh.

The actor was to gain silver screen recognition when he starred in "Trainspotting" in 1995 and "The Full Monty" in 1997.

American TV audiences may remember him from his 40 episodes in "Stargate Universe" from 2009 to 2011 and 138 episodes of "Once Upon a Time" from 2011 to 2018.

Wee Jock was a West Highland Terrier.

Answer: Air Scotia

Just seven shows were broadcast - the pilot (no pun intended) in January 1994 and six episodes in January and February 1995.

It starred Alan Cumming, Forbes Masson, Siobhan Redmond and Patrick Ryecart as the captain and flight crew of Air Scotia planes flying out of Prestwick Airport. Cumming and Masson also wrote the episodes.

Much more might have been seen of this camp and surreal comedy had Alan Cumming's acting career in Hollywood not been taking off (pun intended) at the same time.

Answer: Monarch Of The Glen

Seven seasons of "Monarch of the Glen" were shown in a slot usually reserved for undemanding critical attention among viewers.

At the heart was Archie McPherson (played by Alastair Mackenzie) who was dragged back from the restaurant he was running in London to be at the side of his dying father, Hector (Richard Briers). Rumours of his imminent passing were greatly exaggerated, though; it was just a ploy by his mother, Susan Hampshire, to get Archie to take over the laird's duties.

While the plots were largely undemanding, the producers made the most of the local views and the experience of actors like Hampshire and Briers (who could, frankly, have hammed up a vegetarian picnic any day of the week).

The series was loosely based on the "Highland Novels" written by Sir Compton Mackenzie in the 1940s.

Trivia note: The show was filmed at Ardverikie House, a 19th century baronial house in Inverness-shire. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed there for several weeks in 1847. The house has also appeared in the movie "Mrs Brown" (1997) and stood in for the royal Balmoral Estate in the TV show "The Crown".

Answer: Standing stones

Irish-born actor Caitriona Balfe put on an English accent to play Claire, a married ex-Army nurse. While exploring some standing stones in the Scottish Highlands, she was whisked back 200 years.

There she met members of the clan MacKenzie and was captivated by Jamie (Sam Heughan).

Together they shared adventures in Scotland, Paris and the West Indies, all before being washed up on the shores of 18th century Georgia.

I would tell you more but that all happened in the first three seasons and that's all I've seen so far and I don't want to spoil it for myself by digging further...

The show won a Golden Globe for best series in 2016 and Catriona Balfe received four Golden Globe nominations for best actress. She and Sam Heugan were judged best actor and best actress four years running in the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, awards.
The stars and the show were winners or nominees in a host of other awards.

Answer: Balamory

"Can you see all the different
coloured houses sitting by the sea,
Well there's part of the story
in Balamory asks which is the house
for me,
Is it green is it red or should I go
to the white house instead
Yellow, pink, orange or blue
which coloured house am I going to..."


How could you not love a show with such a charming song?
In all, 254 episodes of "Balamory" were shown on television between 2002 and 2005.

"Balamory" was a live-action show that was aimed squarely at children. It was mostly filmed at Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.

The main characters lived in differently coloured houses, hence the song. At the start of each episode, the audience was asked which house they wanted to visit in order to hear a story.

As well as broadcasts in the UK, "Balamory" was available in the USA.

Answer: John Hannah

John Hannah played the Edinburgh-based detective in the first two seasons, but was replaced for subsequent shows by Ken Stott.

To fans of the books, Hannah was a strange choice. He seemed too young and handsome for the disillusioned Rebus. And yet, the stories Hannah's Rebus portrayed remained truer to the books and had edge of darkness that Stott's shows did not.

On balance viewers, though, felt, Ken Stott made the part his own when he took over - even if many of us have never forgiven the producers for making the Heart of Midlothian supporting Stott wear a Hibernian green and white scarf.

As an aside, although Ian Rankin had a cameo role in at least one of the shows, he claimed to have never listened to the voice of the lead actor. He explained in a television interview that he had Rebus's voice in his head and did not want it corrupted by the sound of an actor.

Answer: Guilt

Mark Bonar played high-flying lawyer and Jamie Sives his feckless brother whose dreams of pop stardom were dashed and he ended up running a vinyl records shop in one of Edinburgh's more down-at-heels parts.

On their way home from a wedding, they knocked down and killed a man, but decided to cover it up by carrying hm back into his home. The man was dying from cancer anyway and so the death was put down to natural causes.

Mix in an American niece of the dead man, an interfering neighbour and a loan shark with dodgy connections and you got what one review compared to a Coen Brothers production.

In the "Guardian", Euan Ferguson wrote of the "inexorability of tiny lies leading to outrageous, yet just credible, developments."

Answer: String vest

If you are puzzled about this thing called "a string vest", try an image search for Rab C. Nesbitt (but not on a full stomach, for the sake of your keyboards, please).

A string vest is, as it sounds, a vest made of string with lots of holes. I believe Americans call it an undershirt. The science is actually well proven. Henrik Brun, a commandant in the Norwegian army, invented it in 1933 using two fishing nets previously used to catch herring and fashioned them into a garment that he correctly imagined would trap air close to the skin and provide insulation.

But, I digress. The character of Rab C. Nesbitt was played by Gregor Fisher. He was a Glasgow man of an uncertain age who got up to all sorts of scrapes. (He was so named because his father was Rab B. Nesbitt and his grandfather Rab A. Nesbitt.)

A pilot episode was shown by the BBC at Christmas 1988 and 10 seasons were to follow between 1990 and 2014.

In 2014, a review in "The Independent" newspaper opined: "... Rab C Nesbitt is a foul-mouthed sitcom about working class family life...."

In 2010, though, the "Daily Telegraph" wrote: "Rab C Nesbitt, the string-vested Glaswegian street philosopher, is the most memorable comedy character Scotland has ever produced..."

It is fair to say the show was not everyone's glass of Irn Bru. While some episodes attracted up to 3.5m viewers, in the end poor ratings killed it off.

Answer: Still Game

Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade played the pensioners, who first appeared in the Scotland only sketch show "Chewin' the Fat" from January 1999 until December 2005

That developed into "Still Game" and 62 episodes followed from 2002.

While broadcast mainly within Scotland, in 2004 five episodes escaped onto the UK-wide airwaves. Seasons four to seven, meanwhile, got national airtime.

The show had mixed reviews. The "Daily Record" called for "Still Game" to be added to the ranks of the "greatest sitcoms ever".

The "Daily Telegraph" wrote in June 2019 that how people felt about the show would depend on their tolerance for "broad jokes, creative swearing and pratfalls". That same review admired the sharpness of the script and the surprising strain of sweetness running underneath the jokes.

Answer: Tutti Frutti

"Tutti Frutti" was a six-parter that was first broadcast in 1987.

The show brought out several new stars and went on to win six BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards.

The show starred Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, Maurice Roëves, Richard Wilson and Katy Murphy.

The plot featured a renowned band called The Majestics planning a 25th anniversary tour, only for lead singer Big Jazza McGlone (Robbie Coltrane) to fall victim to a fatal car crash.

The answer was to persuade his younger brother Danny, also played by Coltrane, when he returned from New York for the funeral to fill in.

The show achieved cult status when first broadcast and was repeated in 2019 when the new BBC Scotland channel was launched.

The passage of time had been kind to the show, Alison Rowat noted in "The Herald": "...everything that made Tutti Frutti sing first time around makes it work again today."

In between 1987 and 2019, 'Tutti Frutti" was made into a stage show in 2006. Reviewing that and harking back through the years, Avril Lennox wrote in "The Times": "Nobody can deny its place in TV history. Without this bittersweet tale of a rock 'n roll band on a jubilee tour of Scotland's least likely clubs, the central actors might never have got the exposure they deserved."

Answer: City Lights

The setting was - you've guessed it - Glasgow. Either Scotland's second city is a hot bed of comedic life or TV producers have shown a lack of originality in choosing locations.

The show aired between 1984 and 1991 and featured Gerard Kelly as Willie Melvin as a frustrated writer trying to get a semi-autobiographical novel published. Sadly, bank assistant Willie was no great shakes as a writer.

"Two Doors Down" and "Empty" were other Scottish TV comedy shows and I know you'll find this hard to believe, they were set in Glasgow.