Series

The following are series, but most programmes can stand on their own as one-offs.

To Norroway O'er The Faem (4 x 26 min)
The series tells the history of the Scots in Scandinavia.

The Auldest Alliance (2 x 26 min)
A celebration of the oldest political alliance in the world, that between Scotland and France.

The Hidden Voice (4 x 26 min)
One of the country's finest traditional singers, Sheena Wellington, explores the role of women in Scottish song.

The Scotch South (4 x 26 min and 4 x 30 min)
On the profound Scottish cultural influence on the American South.

The Complete Caledonian Imbiber (4 x 26 min and 4 x 30 min)
The historic Scottish love affair with claret, port, sherry, madeira, ale and whisky.

Merchants, Pedlars, Mercenaries (4 x 26 min)
The Baltic as a Scottish sphere of influence from medieval times to the present day.

 
Single Programmes

Geddes (26 min)
A portrait of the brilliant polymath Patrick Geddes.

Sidelined in Morar (26 min)
Railway camping coaches shunted up sidings in scenic and not so scenic locations - an eccentric British holiday tradition revealed.

The Tattie Holidays (26 min)
People recall the "holidays" they had from school as children to pick the local potato crop.

We'll Support You Evermore (26 min)
The greatest football support in the world hilariously celebrate supporting Scotland.

At Hame Wi' Burns (26 min)
People in Burns' native Ayrshire speak movingly in the Bard's and their own mither tongue about what his poetry means to them.

The Little White Rose (30 min)
Scottish people talk about their sense of identity with their country's culture and history, blended with music, poetry, prose and song.

Juteopolis (26 min)
The personal connection between Dundee and India through the jute trade.

Knockshinnoch (26 min)
The Ayrshire mining disaster of 1950.

The Berries (26 min)
The tradition of raspberry picking in Strathmore.

Freewheeling (26 min)
The rise of cycling clubs during the Depression.

The Store (26 min)
The Co-operative movement and its role in Fife mining communities.

 
In Preparation

The Prince Of Navigators (28 min)
The history and mythology surrounding the medieval Portugese prince credited with opening up the world through the voyages of discovery.

Flower Of The Forest (28 min)
On the bi-centenary of his birth, a portrait of the Scottish plant hunter and botanist, David Douglas, who brought the Douglas fir and many popular garden plants to Britain from far-off corners of the world.

 
The Odyssey Series

The ground-breaking Odyssey Series was produced for Radio Scotland and Radio 4 in the early 1980s. The following is a list of some of the programmes broadcast.

From the Gorbals to Gweedore - the story of the Glasgow Irish

Fishermen of Kintyre - the history of ring-net fishing

The Lanarkshire Lithuanians - the Lithuanians in Scotland

St. Kilda - life on Britain's remotest island

They Fairly Mak Ye Work - Dundee and the jute industry

Da Merry Boys - Shetlanders at the whaling

Poets and Pioneers - Tiree emigrants in Canada

The Seven Men of Knoydart - the last Highland land raid

Mountain Men - the first working class mountaineers

A Weel Plou' d Rig - the working horses on the farms of the North East

The Clydebank Blitz - the German bombing of 1941

Italiani in Scozzia - the story of Scots Italians

The Booth Boxers - fairground boxers tell their story

Mungo Mackay & the Green Table - the dictatorship in the Lothian Coal Company

The Fisher Lassies - fisher queans away from home at the herring gutting

Gallipoli - the victims of Churchhill's campaign recall the carnage

The Pearl Fishers - pearl fishing in the Tay

Clan Neil of Barra - the oral tradition of a clan

Whisky's Awa - the story of the Temperance movement

The '26 - the miners lockout in Fife

Glasgow Jewry - the story of the community

Up the Valley - Ayrshire's lace weaving industry

The transcripts of most of the oral history collected in the programmes are included in the book The Complete Odyssey

 
Television: Haud Yer Tongue (Channel 4)
A celebration of the vitality and diversity of the Scots language in speech and literature - from the sumptuous court poetry of the medieval makars to the gritty realism of the Trainspotting generation. Billy Kay's odyssey will take him to the major dialect areas from the Northern Isles to the Borders, exploring people's sense of identity through the language of their community.

Due for broadcast in April 1999.
For more details, visit the Channel 4 Schools website

 
Billy also wrote and presented a four-part History at Hand series for Scottish Television's Education Department.

 
For more details on these programs, contact Odyssey Productions