Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

In this people’s history, Kirsty Wark explores the 1970s and early 1980s, an era of shops, pop, new towns and oil, and when Scotland began to see and sell itself as distinctively Scottish.

The first episode sees Kirsty Wark looking at the 1970s and the start of the 1980s, revealing that while this period is often remembered for miners’ strikes, three-day weeks and power cuts, it was also a time of new shopping centres, urban renewal and an oil boom in the north east.

These were the years when Scots discovered new leisure activities, when Highland yards constructed engineering marvels, and when Scotland began to see itself, and sell itself, as distinctively Scottish.

Kirsty visits Irvine to look at the ambitious plans that were devised for Scotland’s new towns and discovers how installing indoor toilets in Govan tenements revolutionised our approach to urban living. She also reveals how the coming of oil changed communities, how theatre roused the Highlands, and how the new Scottish Tourist Board rebranded the country.

The stories of these years are told through the memories of those who experienced them and feature individuals and families from across Scotland, along with a host of familiar faces. Kirsty hears from Val McDermid and Ian Rankin on the culture that shaped them, from Bill Paterson and Alex Norton on their revolutionary theatre tour of the Highlands, and from Roseanna Cunningham and Alistair Darling on the political changes of the era.

Full of the sights and sounds of the 70s, this programme reveals that despite the unrest of the time it was also a period of optimism and ambition.

58 minutes

Last on

Tue 17 Sep 2024 20:00

More episodes

Previous

You are at the first episode

See all episodes from The Years That Changed Modern Scotland

Clip

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Wark
Executive Producer Mick McAvoy
Series Producer Catherine Abbott

Broadcasts

Featured in...

Selling dreams of utopia on the sun-kissed west coast

Selling dreams of utopia on the sun-kissed west coast

New town planners envisaged an exciting future for Irvine.