''Sunset Song'' is a 1971

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 ...

adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel of the same name for television. It consists of six episodes of around 45 minutes each. The series was the first colour drama made by BBC Scotland, and also contained the first

nude scene In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scene ...

. The series made the important change from the novel of turning Chris Guthrie, the main character, into the narrator. It was shown in the USA on

Masterpiece Theatre ''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH-TV, WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaim ...

in 1975–76. The composer Thomas Wilson was commissioned to write the theme music, which the BBC retained for the remaining two parts of the trilogy ''A Scots Quair'', commissioning Wilson again to compose the incidental music for the remaining productions of ''Cloud Howe'' and ''Grey Granite''. Chris Guthrie was played by

Vivien Heilbron Vivien Heilbron (born 13 May 1944) is a Scottish actress. Career Heilbron, who was born in Glasgow, was a member of the company at Dundee Repertory Theatre in the mid-1960s. She achieved fame in her homeland when she appeared in the 1971 BBC ...

. The cast included several other leading Scottish actors of the time, including

Andrew Keir Andrew Keir (né Buggy, 3 April 19265 October 1997) was a Scottish actor who appeared in a number of films made by Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and especially in the theatre, in a professional career t ...

Edith MacArthur Edith MacArthur (8 March 1926 – 25 April 2018) was a British actress noted for her elegant screen presence. Early life MacArthur was born in Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, the daughter of Donald MacArthur and Minnie Ross MacArthur. She studie ...

Anne Kristen Anne Kristen (7 March 1937 – 7 August 1996) was a Scottish actress, best known for portraying Olive Rowe in '' Coronation Street''. Her longest-lasting role was as Miss Meiklejohn in ''Hamish Macbeth''. She also appeared in ''Wings'' as Moll ...

Roddy McMillan Roddy McMillan OBE (23 March 1923 – 9 July 1979) was a Scottish actor and playwright, possibly most famous for his comedy role as Para Handy for BBC Scotland's television series, ''The Vital Spark''. He also played the lead role in Edwa ...

Alex McAvoy Alex McAvoy (10 March 1928 – 16 June 2005) was a Scottish actor known for his roles as Sunny Jim in the BBC Scotland adaptation of Neil Munro's Para Handy stories, ''The Vital Spark'', and as the teacher in Pink Floyd's musical film, ''The W ...

and John Grieve. The script was by Bill Craig, and it was directed by

Moira Armstrong Moira Armstrong (born 1930) is a Scottish television director whose career has expanded over nearly fifty years.

. In September 2022 the serial was repeated on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

, available for 11 months on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

. There is also a short introduction filmed in 2022 where Heilbron and Armstrong discuss the serial.

References

BBC television dramas 1971 British television series debuts 1971 British television series endings Adaptations of works by Scottish writers {{BBC-tv-prog-stub