Sunset Song & Cloud Howe: Two Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisations from A Scots Quair

Full-cast BBC adaptations of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic Scottish novel and its sequel - plus a bonus programme about the story's evocative setting

Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon is best-known for A Scots Quair, a trilogy of novels comprising Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Grey Granite that are considered to be among the most important works of the 20th century Scottish Renaissance. Featured here are the BBC Radio dramatisations of the first two novels, as well as a special documentary feature exploring the landscape and legacy of Sunset Song.

Sunset Song - Set in north-east Scotland before and during the First World War, this moving adaptation tells the story of Chris Guthrie, a farmer's daughter growing up in the crofting village of Kinraddie. With a domineering father and a mother worn out by childbirth, Chris's upbringing is painful, and she is torn between her love of the land and her dream of becoming a teacher. When she falls in love with Ewan Tavendale, she decides to remain on the farm - but the outbreak of war brings devastating change to her family and community... Starring Lesley Hart as Chris Guthrie.

Cloud Howe - The Great War is over, and Chris is starting a new life with her husband. When she and her family move to the mill town of Segget in Aberdeenshire, they find themselves embroiled in the small town's epic class struggle during the run-up to the General Strike. Amy Manson stars as Chris, with Robin Laing as Robert.

Sunset Song: Return to the Mearns - On the 75th anniversary of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's death, Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraith explore the Mearns, asking how the people who live there regard the landscape today and whether Gibbon's masterpiece Sunset Song lives on.

First published 1932 (Sunset Song) and 1933 (Cloud Howe)

Sunset Song Chris Guthrie - Lesley Hart John Guthrie - Liam Brennan Jean Guthrie - Bridget McCann Will Guthrie - Gordon Brandie Mistress Munro - Estrid Barton Long Rob - Matthew Zajac Chae Strachan - Douglas Russell Kirsty Strachan - Shonagh Price Margot Strachan - Sally Reid Ewan Tavendale - Finn den Hertog Rev Colquohoun - Fraser Sivewright Rev Gibbon - Keith Hutcheon Dramatised by Gerda Stevenson Directed by David Ian Neville First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15-22 March 2009

Cloud Howe Chris - Amy Manson Robert - Robin Laing Else - Pearl Appleby Dalziel - Liam Brennan Alec - Philip Cairns Jock - Stephen Duffy Ewan - Roderick Gilkison Leslie - Ralph Riach Ake - Iain Robertson Miss M'Askill - Wendy Seager Mowat - Nick Underwood Dramatised by Donna Franceschild Directed by Kirsty Williams First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 January-1 February 2015

Sunset Song: Return to the Mearns Presented by Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraith First broadcast BBC Radio Orkney, 6 February 2010

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Lydbog: 8. februar 2024