I, too, thank Neil Bibby for bringing this important debate to Parliament and for his support for “River City”, and I welcome many members of the cast to the public gallery this afternoon.
When “River City” was launched in 2002, no one took its success for granted. I was very proud, though, that Shieldinch was being filmed in Dumbarton. However, 23 years later, more than 11,000 people have signed a petition to save the programme. That is testament to the work of countless writers, actors and producers, who have turned it into an iconic part of Scotland’s television landscape—Scottish content for Scottish audiences, made right here in Scotland.
From the start, everyone involved in “River City” was clear that it was more than just a show. Indeed, Ken MacQuarrie, BBC Scotland’s head of programming, said at the time:
“What we are effectively doing here is developing a star factory, a long-running project that gives a boost to the wealth of talent that we’ve got here in Scotland, whether it is writing, directing, acting—and which we want to see develop and grow.”
How right he was. Eric Barlow, who played Tommy Donachie, went on to star in “Taggart”, “Monarch of the Glen”, “Casualty” and “Doctors”. Gary Lamont, who played Robbie Fraser, recently featured in the hit series “Boiling Point” and “Rivals”. Sam Heughan, now the internationally recognised star of “Outlander”, described his time on the show as “incredible”. Renton’s own Gayle Telfer-Stevens made waves in comedy, as well as playing Caitlin McLean, and there from the beginning was Shellsuit Bob, who is listening in the gallery alongside many other members of the cast. I have to say that Bob O’Hara is so much part of Scottish culture that we almost made a request for a gallery ticket in his TV name.
However, it is not just about the actors. “River City” has also created opportunities for screenwriters, set designers, producers, film crew and others in the Scottish TV and film industry, not to mention the jobs that come with cleaning, maintaining and catering for a busy film studio. In the past two years, 23 screenwriters received their first screen credit on “River City” and, over a similar period, five out of six trainee directors were women. That would not have happened without “River City”: it offers a training pipeline for the creative industry that is unlike anything anywhere else in the BBC. There has been a lot of talk from the BBC about training in the future, but there has been nothing on the scale of “River City”, and it is not proposing anything to match it.
Let us be honest: we are talking not just about the closure of “River City” or the gap in the TV schedule, important though that will be to the hundreds of thousands of Scots who tune in each week. We are also talking about a blow to Scotland’s TV and film infrastructure, and about freelancers who might decide to move to Manchester or London.
The BBC says that it will replace the soap with network drama, but flying in crews to occasionally film in a Scottish castle is no substitute for a home-grown industry. Closing the Dumbarton studios, where programmes such as “Vigil” and “Shetland” have been filmed, is also short-sighted. What are the BBC’s network plans for drama production in Scotland for the next few years? Will the share of Scottish-produced content fall, or will the approach simply be to lift and shift drama from another part of the UK? I have to say that I fear the worst.
Staff were led to believe that “River City” was closing because the site owners were selling up, but that is simply untrue. No one denies that there are challenges but, time and again, “River City” has adapted, despite the BBC changing its programme slot and despite also switching it to the BBC Scotland channel.
The BBC has a choice. I hope that it will not be short-sighted and that it will reverse its decision to leave the Dumbarton studios. I hope that the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture and all members in the chamber will encourage the BBC to make the same decision that it made in 2002: invest in Scotland’s talent and in “River City”.
