sheila

The BBC have launched a new programme on Scotland's history.

You can watch it online, or download it.

Episode 1 (of 10)tonight, pretty impressive.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/

rogeruktm

Thanks for the information. Now if I can figure how to pull it up.

historytraveler

I went to the BBc website for America (TV) and unfortunately,can't find a listing for it over here.

Viajero2

If you outside the UK, it will not stream tonight.., I believe the media player that iBBC uses is REAL PLAYER, but BBC does not have streaming rights for international broadcast. If BBC- USA does not link, nobody outside the UK can watch it online or even less download it.

caroline_edinburgh

Did you enjoy episode 1, Sheila ? I thought the information was interesting but the visual aspect IMO was a waste of time, comprising

1) film of the presenter speaking - fair enough

2) big swooping aerial film shots of random countryside - why, unless it's intended as a tourist promo ?

3) brief dramatic reconstructions, mainly random bits of fighting - I find this very annoying and it really puts me off documentaries featuring it

4) annoying gimmicky CGI maps which I found no use at all, what with only showing you clever aerial-type shots swooping round particular bits, and being half covered with 'clouds' - I had no idea which part of the country they were talking about half of the time.

I may have to listen to the rest of it with the picture off, as if it were on the radio.

sheila

I enjoyed it a lot. I spent about an hour on the interweb afterwards, filling in the blanks, and I was a little tee'd off because he's doing this by debunking myths- but he's relaying others s tho' they were proven fact.

But I did really like it over all.

hanl

Looks really interesting - was it only shown on BBC Scotland?

I didn't see it mentioned on the BBC listings (we get BBC London service here in Brussels and iPlayer is only accessible to people living in the UK)...

RM67

Sheila, did you see the programme about St Kilda a while back - that was fascinating - the most spectacular, dramatic but terribly inhospitable place - abandoned in the 1920's I think.

caroline_edinburgh

I think it was only BBC Scotland, hanl.

Sheila, I'd be interested to know which bits presented as fact are myths/unproven, if you have the time to expand ?

The only thing I picked up on was the theory that the climate got colder during the last millennium BC, which didn't seem to fit in with what I was taught at univ. (I did my dissertation on "high living and indecent exposure" )

hanl

Thanks, Caroline. What a shame it's only BBC Scotland (typical though...)

sheila

I didn't know that about iPlayer. Bummer.

What I found tantalysing was that he showed things like sculpted stone crosses and didn't say where they were (I checked. The one with the dying prince is the Aberlemno stone). He used ancient names- Dun Nechten, for example which he said was on Speyside, but didn't say where. There is another place called Dun Nechten in Angus, which makes far more sense if the story of the battle is on a stone found at Aberlemno.

If you check the family tree of Kenneth MacAlpin, you'll see it's similar but not identical to the one he used- depending on which of many versions you use. He said that Aed was killed in Perthshire. It's very unclear WHERE Aed was killed, but a lot of people think it MIGHT have been Inverurie. Others think Strathallan. And the reconstruction was in, I'm pretty sure, Innerpeffrey, which is neither.

I've worked out since I started to answer you yesterday, that I'm going to sit with a notepad next week, so I can capture all the questions he raises and doesn't answer.

However, I have to say, I loved the photography. And I don;t care if they use it as a tourist promotion.

caroline_edinburgh

Thanks, Sheila.