UK's first high-end Gaelic drama is a 'hot property'. So why are we in limbo over funding?

BBC Alba murder mystery An t-Eilean/The Island is a 'hot property' that shows why we need more Gaelic TV

You thankfully don’t have to press too many buttons on your remote these days to find compelling minority language drama.

As drama production in all languages becomes ever more popular with audiences, partly due to the rise of streaming services, we have witnessed Irish Gaelic film The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) receive an Academy Award nomination in 2023 for Best International Feature, whilst police series Hinterland (Y Gwyll) and, more recently, drama thriller Keeping Faith (Un Bore Mercher) provide Welsh language channel S4C with critically acclaimed hits.

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Now, there is firm hope that Scotland’s Gaelic creative industry is about to follow suit with An t-Eilean (The Island), a four-part drama which gets underway tonight on BBC Alba.

Sorcha Groundsell stars in murder mystery An t-Eilean (The Island), which begins on BBC Alba tonightSorcha Groundsell stars in murder mystery An t-Eilean (The Island), which begins on BBC Alba tonight
Sorcha Groundsell stars in murder mystery An t-Eilean (The Island), which begins on BBC Alba tonight | BBC

A brutal murder

With a budget of over £1 million per episode, An t-Eilean (The Island) marks not only a huge investment in drama but also a step forward in financing, with multi-partner funding and a commercially driven structure supported by MG Alba, Screen Scotland, Black Camel Pictures and All3Media International.

Sorcha Groundsell (His Dark Materials, Shetland, The Innocents) leads the cast as Kat Crichton, a young family liaison officer, assigned to investigate the brutal murder of the wife of a local tycoon at a remote island mansion. The murder investigation unravels on the islands of Lewis and Harris, from where Kat mysteriously fled ten years previously.

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The series is produced by Bafta-winning Black Camel Pictures (makers of hit TV show Annika) and directed by Tom Sullivan (best known for his award-winning film Arracht). An t-Eilean was already selected as a ‘hot property’ for Content London, an industry event held last month which attracts more than 3,000 leading creative industry executives from all over the world.

Given the optimism about An t-Eilean, and the production budget available for the series, many would think that everything in the garden is rosy when it comes to the future of Gaelic media? Not quite.

Fostering creative skills

That’s not to say there aren’t many reasons for optimism. A production of this nature simply wouldn’t have been possible when BBC Alba first started transmitting back in 2008 due to the shallower pool of talent that was available in the Gaelic media sector 17 years ago.

Through the very existence of BBC Alba itself, a career in media – whether in front of the camera, in content creation or in support services – is now a realistic goal for many young people, particularly those in the Highlands & Islands for whom opportunities were previously limited.

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For more than a decade, MG Alba has been at the forefront of fostering creative and language skills in both young people and adults. Initiatives like the annual, short-film competition FilmG, along with the LearnGaelic and SpeakGaelic platforms, have played a key role in this mission.

In North and South Uist and Lewis, young apprentices have taken their first steps into digital broadcasting through creative content apprenticeships developed in partnership with local arts organisations. This forward-thinking programme not only introduces young talent to a cutting-edge industry, but also enables them to build their careers while remaining rooted in their local communities.

That has led to a situation where there is a burgeoning array of talent, with the assistance of some established industry players such as Black Camel Pictures, who are able to produce a series such as An t-Eilean and take Gaelic drama to national and international audiences. BBC Four has already snapped up the series for transmission later this year.

Budget set to fall by half

That said, in many ways, BBC Alba still finds itself in limbo due to the constrained funding – even though critics of Gaelic will point to the £1m per episode budget of An t-Eilean and question how such a claim can be made.

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By 2027, MG Alba’s budget is expected to be worth just half of what it was when BBC Alba launched. This funding shortfall is already having a tangible impact.

In a recent commissioning round, BBC Alba received programme proposals worth £9m from nearly 30 companies, but a staggering 95 per cent could not be commissioned due to budget constraints, despite the quality and creativity of the ideas.

MG Alba is a vital economic contributor, sustaining approximately 340 full-time equivalent jobs, with half of these based in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. On an annual budget of £13m, the organisation delivers a gross value added of over £17 million, equating to a return of £1.34 for every £1 invested.

A worthwhile investment

Research highlights the potential for even greater impact with increased investment. An additional £11.5m annually for content and £1m for innovation and skills could boost the jobs supported by Gaelic media to 770, while raising the return on investment to £1.43 for every £1 spent.

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The Scottish Government, the UK Government and representatives from across the political landscape have been very warm in their attitudes towards Gaelic media, recognising the very real social and economic value that we foster on a daily basis. Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has responsibility for Gaelic in her wide-ranging portfolio and it is heartening that someone with real experience and knowledge of Gaelic media has responsibility for the language within government.

MG Alba remains caught in a state of limbo, however, positioned between organisations with competing priorities where Gaelic broadcasting is often overlooked. Hopes for progress were briefly raised during discussions surrounding last year’s Media Act at Westminster, which offered a chance to resolve this long-standing issue, but were derailed by the snap election.

As the new drama An t-Eilean premieres to audiences across Scotland this evening, it stands as a powerful testament to what can be achieved through strategic investment and innovative partnerships. Our ambition is to build on this success, fostering even greater social and economic growth in the future – the key lies in securing the resources needed to unlock that potential.

Domhnall Campbell is chief executive of MG Alba

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