With Take the High Road currently being shown on the STV player, it got us thinking about other Scottish TV classics.
Everyone remembers top TV series like Chewing the Fat, Rab C Nesbitt and Hamish MacBeth but what about the others?
Here are some of the best Scottish shows of the past you might have forgotten about.
City Lights
Featuring a cast of some of Scotland’s best known TV faces, Glasgow-based City Lights ran from 1984 to 1991, with the always hilarious Gerard Kelly in the starring role (also his first).
Playing a hapless bank with dreams of making it big as a writer, Gerard had to face the trials of an eccentric cast of characters (played by the likes of Elaine C Smith, Andy Gray and Jonathan Watson) who often got in the way.
The High Life
Another comedy classic, this time based in the sky, the High Life saw future film star Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson play flight attendants for a fictional airline Air Scotia.
Running for one series in the mid-90s, the show was an early indicator of Cumming’s talent with Masson offering the perfect comedic partner with plenty of one-liners and withering put downs.
Naked Video
The forerunner to Chewin’ the Fat and Burnistoun, Naked Video was a classic sketch comedy show that ran from 1986 to 1991 and introduced the world to Rab C Nesbitt.
It featured a top comedy cast with the likes of Gregor Fisher, Helen Lederer, Elaine C. Smith, Tony Roper and Jonathan Watson all starring and introduced famous sketches such as the Baldy Man and Bitter Divorcee Lizzie.
The Crow Road
Acclaimed Scots author Iain Banks saw his popular novel The Crow Road adapted for TV in the mid-90s.
The BAFTA-nominated Scottish miniseries focuses on a young history student Prentice McHoan (Joe McFadden) who returned home to get to the bottom of a family mystery surrounding his missing uncle Rory (played by a young Peter Capaldi).
Scots stars Bill Paterson and Dougray Scott also appeared as Prentice’s dad and brother.
The Book Club
Often overlooked, this brilliant comedy was a shining light for Channel 4 when it was broadcast in 2002 and 2003 – running for two seasons.
It saw American Clare Pettengill (Anne Dudek) start a book club to make friends after moving to Glasgow, bringing together an unlikely cast of characters portrayed by actors including Game of Thrones star Rory McCann, Doctor Who’s Michelle Gomez and even Karen Kilgariff who would go on to find fame with her My Favourite Murder podcast.
Bob Servant Independent
This short-lived but brilliant comedy starred Brian Cox as the highly unqualified and self-absorbed Bob Servant, who wins a local political election in Broughty Ferry.
The self-styled cheeseburger tycoon, ably assisted by Jonathan Watson’s Frank, proves hilariously adept at causing trouble and delivering brilliant comedic speeches.
Tutti Frutti
Shown on the BBC in the late 80s, Bafta winning TV show Tutti Frutti saw ageing rock ‘n’ roll band The Majestics about to hit the big time after 25 years of gigging around small venues.
Robbie Coltrane starred as lead singer Danny McGlone, while Oscar Winner Emma Thompson played guitarist Suzi Nettles, in the critically acclaimed hit which was written Scots playwright John Byrne.
Atletico Partick
Running in the mid-90s, this excellent series about the adventures of an amateur Scottish soccer team saw long suffering wife of footballer Jack (Gordon Kennedy), Karen (Aline Mowat) find solace in the arms of Ally (Tom McGovern), a man more interested in sex than football.
A one off comedy from the writer of Rab C. Nesbitt, was much loved when it first aired.
