WILL IT BE WHEELS OF FORTUNE SECOND TIME ROUND ON BBC ALBA?
CUIBHLICHEAN AN FHORTAIN - SERIES TWO
BBC ALBA, 5th February at 9pm
Fronted by Gilleasbuig Ferguson, Cuibhlichean an Fhortain (Wheels of Fortune) returns to BBC ALBA for a second series that promises to deliver much more than just rusty cars and oily engines.
Each programme in the new five week series comes laden with irreverence and for an hour, plays fast and loose with entertainment formats, mixing game show, makeover show and reality show. Fortunately, light comedy is the glue that holds that stew of disparate elements together.
Following repeated attempts at lending coherence to proceedings, a despairing Gilleasbuig Ferguson said: “You’ll see wheels but I strongly doubt that anybody will see a fortune.”
Despite that downbeat forecast, each episode draws two fresh hopefuls to join the team captains and battle to turn cheap cars into a set of wheels hot enough to auction after two days’ toil. The goal is simple, the team that raises the most money at a car auction wins.
A new garage location provides the ideal playground environment for the team captains to ply their mechanical skills. With a combined driving age of 100 years, presenters Iain Mackay and Norman MacLeod both from the Point on the Isle of Lewis bring decades of motoring experience to our screens.
Iain is a well known Gaelic singer and a retired motor mechanic whilst Norman used to be in the RAF and although not a mechanic to trade, is very capable all the same. The pair also form a wily tag team who regard cars as activity centres and see the presenter as fair game for leg-pulling.
Amongst other supposed failings, Gilleasbuig is pillioried for his lack of mechanical knowledge, for alleged tightfistedness and for his woefully unfunny gags.
Cuibhlichean an Fhortain is also about go-karts and the mystery vehicles in which our captains attempt to out-manoeuvre one another in blatant attempts at one-upmanship.
The antidote to slick motoring magazines, this new series also road tests classics including motoring icons including the Fiat 500 and Citroen DS. Testing the classic Marques to near-destruction will be John MacNeill. Drafted in for his cynicism and for a willful disregard for transmission systems; it’s said that if the vintage cars can survive John, then they’ll last another fifty years. If the show isn’t about cars then it’s certainly about survival.
The first programme in the series features Lochgilphead couple Christine and Donald MacIntyre and has them pitched against each other on opposing sides. Will they survive two days in a confined space with Gilleasbuig, Iain and Norman?
Produced by Bees Nees Media for BBC ALBA, Cuibhlichean an Fhortain is being broadcast on Fridays at 9pm for five consecutive weeks commencing 5th February 2010.