CLIPS
A few selections from a variety of my films.
Scotland from the Sky
I produced and directed four of the nine episodes of this hugely successful popular history series. Presented by Jamie Crawford and made by BBC Studios for BBC2. The films use archive aerial photographs combined with stunning present day helicopter and drone filming to reveal fascinating tales from history. RTS Scotland nominated.
Timex: The rise and fall.
1 x 60 BBC2. The explosive story of Britain's last full-blooded industrial dispute. Told for the most part by powerful interviews with the women on the picket line. "Excellent", Andrew Male review, Sunday Times, 27/10/19.
Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer?
England's most notorious King was a true man of the renaissance, a musician, a lover of spectacle. Yet it was Henry who destroyed England's great monasteries. This two-part BBC4 series looks back on Henry's approach to art through his palaces, tapestries and music. I produced and directed the first episode.
The Machine Gun
Two stories told in parallel. First, the development of the machine gun, a devilish device that could fire 666 bullets per minute. Secondly, the story of a company of young recruits who would come to face those bullets. The film was developed by myself and historian Trevor Royle. Presented by Neil Oliver. Written and directed by myself.
“The film succeeds, compellingly and horribly by reducing the carnage to a comprehensible scale” - Guardian review, July 2014.
Blood of the Clans
BBC4 3x60 drama doc series on Scottish history. I produced all the documentary elements across the series and was PD on the "Rob Roy" film, narrating the fabulous rise and well deserved fall of the country's most celebrated rogue.
Mackintosh
A century after the birth of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Lachlan Goudie guides us through his life and work. His influence on the better-remembered artists of the Vienna secession, the watercolours he painted in France and Suffolk, and of course his mind-blowing Glasgow architecture. The film argues that Mackintosh's native city never truly recognised the genius in its midst. 1 x 60 BBC4.
The Stuarts in Exile
I produced and directed the concluding episode of this BBC4 history series. The amazing story of the banished Stuart dynasty, sustained by the largesse of the Pope in a forgotten Roman palace, plotting their return to power.
The Hector
Distributed in North America as "Canada's Mayflower".
BBC4 & BBC Worldwide. 1 x 60. The story of the men, women and children who arrived in Nova Scotia on board a decrepit cargo ship. Their arrival, in 1773 has long been celebrated and mythologised. The film explores their legacy, but leaves the last word to the indigenous people whose land they "settled".
The Scot who shot the Civil War
1 x 60, BBC Scotland. Exploring the work of Paisley-born Alexander Gardner. Called the father of photo-journalism, he took his cameras to the battlefields of the Civil War and was the first to capture the casualties of conflict. I worked with "Super contributor" David Hume Kennerly, legendary US Vietnam photo-journalist, discovering how Gardner operated and the ethics of "improving" the composition of his images.