''BBC Scotland's Hogmanay'' is

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

's annual live event programme broadcast on

Hogmanay Hogmanay ( , ) is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or i ...

, Scotland's

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

celebration. Regardless of location, the programme rings in the New Year with the firing of

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

One O'Clock Gun Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

and the subsequent fireworks and celebrations in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. The programme in all its iterations feature a mixture of Scottish contemporary and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, with some past programming also featuring live coverage of parts of the

Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three ...

concert in Edinburgh.

Jackie Bird Jacqueline Bird (née Macpherson, born 31 July 1962) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster, best known as a former anchor of the BBC Scotland national news programme ''Reporting Scotland''. Early life Jacqueline Macpherson was born on 31 J ...

and Phil Cunningham often hosted together each year but from 2008 until 2019 she solely presented the programme. Cunningham does still appear on the programme, though not as a host.

Carol Kirkwood Carol Kirkwood (née MacKellaig) (born 29 May 1962) is a Scottish weather presenter, trained by the Met Office, and employed by the BBC, on '' BBC Breakfast''. In 2015, she participated in the 13th series of BBC One's '' Strictly Come Dancing' ...

reported on the 2016 edition of the show live from Edinburgh Castle. The show currently is hosted live from The Old Fruitmarket,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Until 2013, Bird was live from Edinburgh Castle or Princes Street, but the show's producers decided that it should take place in Glasgow permanently. In 2019, ''Hogmanay Live'' was rebranded to ''"Hogmanay"'' and since then, the programme has been pre-recorded. The current presenters are Edith Bowman and Amy Irons.

History

1991–2018: ''Hogmanay Live''

The programme has its roots in ''

The White Heather Club ''The White Heather Club'' was a BBC TV Scottish variety show that ran on and off from 7 May 1958 to 11 April 1968 History It was an early evening BBC television programme. It started at 6.20, and Jimmy Shand composed a melody "The Six Twenty ...

'' which preceded it. Whilst ''Hogmanay Live'' is vastly different nowadays from the programme that came before it, ''The White Heather Club'' brought the Scottish tradition of Hogmanay to television for the first time. Various incarnations and evolutions of the show have appeared over the years, such as ''The Hogmanay Show'', which blend the old with the new and mark the beginning of a New Year from a distinctly Scottish perspective. ''Hogmanay Live'', briefly renamed ''New Year Live'' when it was networked in 1998, has continued this tradition, giving viewers a chance to both reflect on the year gone by and look forward to the year ahead in a uniquely Scottish fashion. Jackie Bird's parts in Glasgow are filmed in advance of Hogmanay and are not live

2019–present: ''Hogmanay''

In 2019, the format changed and ''Hogmanay Live'' was renamed to ''Hogmanay'' with the outgoing year added at the end, the first edition was presented by Calman, Clarke and Irons, and was not filmed live. The 2020 programme was again hosted by Calman and was pre-recorded without a studio audience. It was announced that Stirling Council would team up with BBC Scotland to organise a firework display over the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle which would be broadcast on the programme from midnight. The 2021 programme saw Calman axed from the presenting line-up and replaced by Edith Bowman and Amy Irons. Again, the programme was pre-recorded but for the first time, saw the return of a studio audience.

Broadcasts

The programme is broadcast throughout the United Kingdom on BBC One Scotland. BBC One's London celebration, ''BBC New Year's Eve specials'' is also available in Scotland via digital television as well as BBC Two's ''Jools' Annual Hootenanny'' with Jools Holland.

hosted the show every year from 1999 until 2018–19. Before then, it had various hosts.

In popular culture

The show was regularly lampooned in BBC Scotland's 1979–92 Hogmanay comedy sketch show ''Scotch and Wry'' (which was screened immediately before in the schedule), which usually involved Rikki Fulton in a post-closing credits skit aimed directly at ''Hogmanay Live''. Since 1993 ''Only an Excuse?'' has occupied the same schedule position and continued the parodies. During ''Hogmanay Live 2001'', one of presenter Jackie Bird's many costume changes included a small gold glittery top. Amid derision from the media, the top became one of the infamous moments of that year's programme and was auctioned off for BBC ''Children in Need'' later in the year.

References

External links

* * {{New Year 1991 Scottish television series debuts 1990s Scottish television series 2000s Scottish television series 2010s Scottish television series 2020s Scottish television series Annual television shows BBC Scotland television shows British television specials Hogmanay New Year's television specials