NEW BBC ALBA SERIES EXPLORING THE CHALLENGES FACING THOSE IN SCOTLAND’S FERRY INDUSTRY
THAR AN AISEIG/FERRY TALES
BBC ALBA, Tuesday 25 January at 8.30pm
It's daybreak as the Earl Sigurd ferry sails towards Orkney’s harbourless northern frontier. She hasn’t called there for a fortnight, kept away by a string of winter storms, but today her skipper is seizing a weather window to drop stores for 60 stranded islanders. Will his three-hour dawn passage pay off? No one will know for sure until the last mooring line is tied.
This is just one of the modern sea-tales of Thar an Aiseig - Ferry Tales, an entertaining and thought provoking new BBC ALBA series produced by MacTV documenting some of the 50 or so Scottish ferries that ply the tides daily.
From tiny boats working windswept slipways to the bustling commuter routes of the Clyde, state-aided fleets and entrepreneurial independent operators, this new eight-part series captures the essence of the maritime network serving Scotland’s coastal communities.
Beautifully shot with a raw edge, viewers will be taken on voyages they might never have planned, to places they might otherwise not have found, in the company of memorable characters: the ferrymen, passengers and passers-by who talk honestly and with humour about their experiences on the open waves.
Meet the skipper who swapped Dutch freight barges for a three-metre dory on the remote Scottish West Coast. Ride the Clyde on Scotland’s busiest commuter ferry and get a first hand taste of its mechanics with the ship’s engineer. Spend time with the family run ferry company, Pentland Ferries based in St Margarets Hope in Orkney, who have a cutting edge new vessel and immerse yourself in the life on Kerrera (near Oban, Argyll) the colourful island of 30 residents and their animals whose ferry slipway is their equivalent of a bus stop!
David Sawkins of Orkney Ferries oversees the Earl Sigurd and her 11 sister ships and as we see throughout the series, David is always happy for an excuse to swap his desk for the open deck.
David said: “Ferries are these people’s lifeline. Without the ferry service many Scottish communities simply couldn’t operate. The ferry services have to keep on going, to run when they say they are going to, because without them communities simply couldn’t operate.”
Thar an Aiseig - Ferry Tales was filmed over 12-months during which Scottish ferry services were under scrutiny, with issues of competitive tendering and subsidies never far from the news.
It's never plain sailing, from funding crises to storm bound ships and challenging cargoes but as Ferry Tales reveals, each day brings its moments of magic, from the sun clipping the bow over a glassy sea, a rainbow arcing over a busy waterway, a cow and calf docile on the foredeck and the first journey home of a new-born baby.
Argyll and Bute Ferries frontman, Martin Gorringe, said: “We are excited about the launch of Thar an Aiseig - Ferry Tales. Hopefully the series will spark a renewed level of interest in the islands and the heritage they have to offer."
Thar an Aiseig - Ferry Tales is a new weekly eight part series produced by MacTV for BBC ALBA and will commence on Tuesday 25th January at 8.30pm.