Tourism chiefs are hoping that a landmark TV series focusing on the wildlife of the Hebrides will give the local tourism industry a boost. The show, Hebrides, Life on the Edge will be screened tonight (Monday 6 May) at 9pm on BBC One Scotland and will then be available on the BBC iPlayer.
Mike Cantlay, chairman of national tourism agency VisitScotland, said the programme was a “golden chance to promote the Year of Natural Scotland”.
He added: “This documentary will continue to promote Scotland’s landscapes, its wildlife and people in a magical light. Our research shows that one in five visitors are influenced by seeing depictions of Scotland on film or television, so magnificent exposure such as this can only be a great thing.”
The series, three years in the making, has been created by some of the key talent behind award-winning series like Big Cat Diary and Frozen Planet. It has been made by Glasgow-based Maramedia, in association with Otter Films, and produced and filmed by acclaimed wildlife filmmakers Nigel Pope, John Aitchison and Doug Anderson and is narrated by Ewan McGregor.
Against a backdrop of dramatic Atlantic weather, the series paints an intimate portrait of the lives of an unforgettable cast of wild Hebridean animals, from red deer stags battling to win their mates, to seals struggling to protect their newborn pups, from mighty basking sharks to charismatic white-tailed eagles, from the unique flowering meadows of North Uist to the swallows that have set up home in an Islay whisky distillery.
Three of the programmes chart the course of a wild year in the Hebrides. High winds, drought and the most dramatic storm in living memory are all thrown at the animal cast of the Islands on the Edge. Using the most recent technology and a unique range of cameras never used in this part of the world before, Hebrides, Islands on the Edge gives a privileged view into their lives. The fourth programme introduces some of the people from the Islands on the Edge and finds out why animals and people in the Hebrides need each other so very much.
The Outer Hebrides, Islay and Jura have seen a surge in visitor numbers in the last few years following exposure on TV programmes such as Monty Halls Great Adventure and Island Parish, set on Barra, as well as a large reduction in the price of ferries to the islands with the introduction of the Road Equivalent Pricing scheme. For inspiration and places to walk in the Outer Hebrides and Islay see Walkhighlands. Skye remains a very popular visitor destination with the toll-free Skye bridge making access even easier, for places to walk on Skye see Walkhighlands.