Psalms of the People

A centenary celebration of the life and legacy of Rikki Fulton, one of Scotland’s most beloved comic actors. Ashley Jensen narrates an affectionate tribute to one of Scotland’s funniest comedians, Rikki Fulton. It’s 100 years since Rikki first made an entrance on to the world stage and 20 years since he bowed out. For decades, he’s been making the nation laugh with his rubber face, razor sharp wit and laconic demeanour. His influence is still felt in new generations of comics, and clips of his sketches still make us laugh to this day.

Jack Docherty brings together a jam-packed cast of comedians, actors and famous faces for a riotous celebration of Scotland's most valuable export – its sense of humour. Scotland is a small nation with a big funny bone. It's known the world over for self-deprecation, quick-witted patter and deadpan asides. But what makes it so funny? To find out the answer, this programme delves deep into the BBC Scotland archives to find a century’s worth of classic characters, catchphrases and comedy clips.

The story of the extraordinary friendship between Scottish film maker Bill Douglas and his lifelong companion and collaborator Peter Jewell. Bill Douglas was Scotland’s finest director, celebrated by the likes of Lynne Ramsay, Lenny Abrahamson, Satajit Ray and Yuliya Solntseva. Bill’s life was turned around in the Egyptian desert when during National Service he met the man who would become his lifelong friend, Peter Jewell. The two men had very different backgrounds but they formed a unique bond that channelled a tremendous creative energy. In this film Peter reminisces about the life he shared with Bill in their tiny Soho flat filled with cinema memorabilia. Their shared love of the movies lead them to start experimenting with an 8mm camera. Peter’s memories and musings about the legacy Bill left behind are illustrated with these never-before-seen short films.

Alex Norton discovers how showbusiness has handled the portrayal of the Scottish accent. For over 100 years audiences have struggled to understand our braw brogue: silent Harry Lauder films attempted an accent in the captions, and in Hollywood's golden era , everyone wanted to paint their tonsils tartan- but as examples from Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles and Richard Chamberlain show, they couldnae. Then Disney made Brave and proved that it disnae have to be all bad!