SCOTLAND
MANAGEMENT REVIEW
2011/1201	Director’s introduction
02 Two minute summary
04 Service performance
12 Looking ahead
16 Key priorities for next year
17 Contacts
18 Scotland management

Cover image
This year, BBC Scotland celebrated 60 years of TV in Scotland with a seven-part series, presented by Greg HemphillDIRECTOR’S INTRODUCTION

In broadcasting, the one thingthat is constant is change.
Recently, the BBC has had toface one of its most serious
challenges of modern times –how to reduce its budget by
up to 20% and yet ensurethat it will continue todeliver innovative, stimulating
programming, across its
broadcast platforms, for licencefee payers. It will not be easy but
I believe that, in Scotland, we are
well placed to achieve that goal.
By the end of the current Charter period,in 2016, our local spend in Scotland will have
reduced by around £16million and around
100 posts will have been closed. However,against such difficult financial requirements,
there is room for some optimism.
The past year saw some of our highest
audiences in over a decade for our televisednews output and we are determined tosustain that performance and to build
upon it. Audience appreciation for River
City continues to grow year on year. BBCRadio Scotland’s programme strategy wasendorsed by the BBC Trust and we havealready begun to reshape the schedules toensure that its distinctive offering remains
popular with listeners. In addition, BBC
ALBA’s availability on Freeview has now
increased its weekly audience to over
500,000 viewers.
In particular, our television output for
network continued to grow across 2011
and we have now achieved the level of
network BBC spend which the DirectorGeneral set for us for 2016.
Although, in recent months, we have bid
a fond farewell to The Weakest Link, wehave also welcomed Waterloo Road to
Scotland. It will provide a welcome financial
boost for the creative industry here; mostimportantly, its addition to BBC Scotland’s
programme roster clearly illustrates thewealth of talent that we have here in
Scotland and the ambition that we haveto succeed.
Most recently, it has been confirmed thatthe BBC Head of UK Arts Production andthe most senior UK Creative post within
in-house Factual programme-making, theController, BBC Factual, will be based in
Scotland. This will help further to establish
BBC Scotland as a centre of excellence inArts and Factual programme production.

Ken MacQuarrie
Director, BBC Scotland

1

TWO MINUTE SUMMARY

4.26 million 840,000
The winter weather conditions
drew the largest ever number
of weekly unique users to the
BBC Scotland news website.

The average audience for The
Scheme, which, with a 45%
share, was the best performing
documentary in Scotland in overa decade.

£2.2million 82

The record-breaking on-the-night The number of countries whichamount raised in Scotland by therequested live streams of BBC
2011 BBC Children in Need appeal. Scotland’s coverage of the 2011
This year, £5million will be madeWorld Pipe Band Championships,
available by the BBC to distribute from Glasgow Green.
to children’s charities in Scotland.

Weekly reach in Scotland, % by service
BBC ALBA
BBC One

09/10
10/11
11/12

77.1
79.7
79.6

BBC ALBA (amongst Gaelic community)

BBC Two

09/10
10/11
11/12
2

(amongst adult 16+ population in Scotland)
09/10 (Sept 09–Mar 10)
4.3
10/11
4.3
11/12
11.9

55.4
55.5
55.4

09/10
10/11
11/12 (Jun–Mar 12)

65.8
72.2
76.4

BBC Scotland’s local television hours

BBC ALBA television hours

Genre

News and Current Affairs

184.13Arts

5.87

Other BBC funded programmes

Comedy5.52

Total BBC funded programmes

216.20Current Affairs

175.90Partner (MG ALBA) funded programmes

401.31

Drama

53.48

Joint Funded programmesEntertainment

1.92

Total hours

Factual50.03

Repeats

2,003.45

Factual Entertainment

13.14

Total hours

2,621.94

Music Performance

20.65

News & Weather

327.81

Religion/Beliefs

1.69

Education

0.98

Sport

163.53

Total

820.52

Repeats251.84

Total hours

1,072.36

BBC Scotland Network TV hours
Originations

882

BBC Scotland’s radio hours
BBC Radio Scotland

9,194

Repeats

1,495

Total hours

10,689BBC Radio nan Gàidheal

3,666

Repeats

1,181

Total hours

4,847

32.07

0.98
618.49TV highlights

As our soap opera River City approaches its 10th
anniversary this year, audience figures continue to rise andaudience research indicates that it is now the most highly
regarded British soap.

Radio highlights

A year of creativity and ambition across all programmegenres was rewarded, with research showing both higher
listening figures and greater audience appreciation, withweekly audiences in excess of one million listeners.

Online highlights

The average number of weekly UK unique browsers roseby over one million to 3.5 million for the year. This was
driven particularly by traffic to News and Sport.

BBC Radio nan Gàidheal(amongst Gaelic community)
09/10
10/11
11/12

68.6
72.4
73.0

BBC Radio Scotland

09/10
10/11
11/12

21.2
22.2
22.6
3

SERVICE PERFORMANCE
We have this year surpassed the network TV spend target set
for us for 2016. Our challenge now is to build on this success, while
delivering 16% savings. To do that, we will set out to increase thedistinctiveness and quality of our output, and to improve value
for money for licence fee payers.

Television
In News, stories surrounding the severe
winter weather and the ownership ofRangers Football Club were the biggest
drivers of audience figures.
The 6.30pm edition of Reporting Scotland
continued to attract some of its largest
audiences in the past decade, with close toa million viewers on the day of the storms
on 3 January 2012. The programme’s
average nightly audience continues to
exceed 500,000 and the reach of all BBC
Scotland TV bulletins continues to increase.
The Scottish Election dominated news
coverage in April and May 2011. Glenn
Campbell hosted a Scottish Leaders’debate in front of a thousand people in
Perth Concert Hall. During the debate
Live broadcasts from 30 locations acrossScotland featured within BBC Scotland’s
live coverage of the 2011 Scottish
Parliamentary elections.

4the SNP leader committed the party to anindependence referendum in the second
half of the Scottish Parliament.
From the close of polls we offered what
was our most extensive televised election
results coverage ever, with 19 hours of live
TV, including specially extended bulletins.
We reached two million people, 42% of
the Scottish audience, with live broadcasts
from 30 locations across Scotland, for BBC
Scotland, BBC ALBA, for Network on BBC
One, BBC Two and for BBC Parliament.
Online, December’s gale force winds
brought a week’s worth of traffic in one day
to the BBC Scotland News website, with
4.2 million unique browsers logged by theend of the week.

Scotland

The BBC Scotland Investigations
Unit delivered several high impact
documentaries for Scottish and network
audiences.
Rangers – The Inside Story, presented byMark Daly, examined the takeover of theclub by Craig Whyte and attracted an
audience of 550,000 in Scotland.
Five editions of Panorama, made in Scotland,
were transmitted over the year. These
included The Great Fuel Robbery, presented
by Sam Poling. The Investigations teamsecured exclusive access to specialist Policeand HM Revenue and Customs personnel
tasked with tackling the multi-million pound
trade in fuel laundering. It attracted a UK
audience of more than 3.5 million.

1

BBC One’s Question Time, presented
by David Dimbleby, made a successfultransition from the editorial control of BBC
News to BBC Scotland.
We offered live coverage of the 40th
anniversary of the Ibrox disaster, withspecial programmes on BBC Radio
Scotland, TV and online. A special live
programme focused on the Royal Openingof the Holyrood Parliament and there
was live coverage of the marriage of the
Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Philips, torugby player Mike Tindall in Edinburgh
last August.
Our Gaelic language service also offeredcoverage of the Scottish Parliamentary
Election campaign across its three services,on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, BBC ALBA
and bbc.co.uk/alba.

2

1. Editorial responsibility for Question
Time, hosted by David Dimbleby,
was transferred to Scotland.
2. Sam Poling fronted a number ofhigh profile Investigations.

5

SERVICE PERFORMANCE CONTINUED

A wide geographic spread was a featureof the stories covered each day on BBC
ALBA’s An Lá and BBC Radio nan Gàidheal’s
Aithris na Maidne and Aithris an Fheasgair.
Eorpa maintained its distinct remit toreport and analyse issues from mainland
Europe and reporter Andras Wolff won
a Journalism Award from the German
Embassy for his story of a submariner
whose body was washed up on Skyeduring the Second World War.
It was a particularly strong year for our
Factual programming. The Explorers season
featured a clutch of documentaries which
told the tales of those Scots pioneers
who helped forge today’s world. Theirstories played out in the four-part The Last
Explorers, the three-part Scots Who Found
the Modern World, Rowing the Arctic and
The Hudson’s Bay Boys, which captured theextraordinary tales of those modern-day
Scots adventurers who have built new lives
in the Canadian Arctic. Afterlife: The Strange
Science of Decay, on BBC Four, offered a
revealing journey into the world of decay
and decomposition, using time-lapse andmicro-photography.

1

1. The An Lá presenting team of
Kirsteen MacDonald, Iain MacLean
and Angela MacLean.
2. Mark Beaumont braved the wilds
in Rowing the Arctic.

6

2

The Scheme was finally broadcast in full,in Scotland and on network, with a fifth
programme to update on events in
Onthank and a televised debate on manyof the social issues raised. With one inthree of the Scottish population tuning into watch, it proved to be one of the year’s
talking points on TV, collecting awards fromboth the Royal Television Society
and BAFTA Scotland.
Controversy was also sparked with theaward-winning Terry Pratchett: Choosing toDie, on BBC Two. RBS – Inside The Bank
That Ran Out Of Money offered insight
into one of the darkest chapters in Britishbanking history.
Blethering Scots and Scots Scuil looked at thecontribution to our culture of the Scots
language, the three-part High School offereda unique insight into life at one of Europe’s
largest schools, Holyrood Secondary in
Glasgow, and the seven-part 60 Years of
Television in Scotland recaptured some ofthe small screen’s golden moments.

The Culture Show and The Review Show,
broadcast on network across the year,
were both prominent within BBC’s
coverage of the Edinburgh International
Festival, whose artistic pulse and creative
diversity were reflected in output acrossTV, radio and online.
Imagine’s Ai Weiwei – Without Fear of
Favour collected the Best Film on Art for
Television Award at the 2012 Montreal
International Festival of Films on Art. And
tribute was paid to the life and work of oneof Scotland’s greatest singer-songwriters in
the Artworks Scotland documentary Gerry
Rafferty – Right Down the Line.
Transatlantic Sessions returned for a fifthseries. Jack Bruce: The Man Behind the Bass
profiled a rock legend and Music Nation: A
Sporting Fanfare brought together stars fromthe worlds of sport and music in a unique
event that looked forward to the 2012
Olympic Games.
As River City approaches its 10th anniversary
in 2012, audience figures continue to rise.
On network, Garrow’s Law returned fora third series, Case Histories, the six-part
crime drama set in Edinburgh, drew average
audiences of around four million, and YoungJames Herriot looked back on the early yearsof the best-selling author in 1930s Glasgow.

1

The Field of Blood transferred to networkand collected a BAFTA Scotland award. The
transfer of Waterloo Road to Scotland wasconfirmed and started filming in April 2012
in Greenock.
Anne Robinson said her final goodbye to
The Weakest Link after 13 series. However,
she returned to the airwaves to host thesecond series of My Life In Books on BBC
Two. Saturday evening entertainment for
network included Tonight’s The Night, withJohn Barrowman, returning to BBC One
for its third series, and The National Lottery:
Secret Fortune, back for its second.
In Comedy, Burnistoun transferred to
BBC Two, Gary: Tank Commander had
its first outing on BBC Three and thesitcom phenomenon that is Mrs Brown’sBoys returned for a second series. Filmed
before a live audience, it has achieved someof the highest ever recorded audienceappreciation ratings for a BBC comedy
programme.
The four-part Late’n’Live Guide to Comedy
featured the cream of British comedic talent
and Kevin Bridges: What’s the Story? looked
at life through the eyes of one of Scotland’s
hottest young comedy prospects.

2

1. The Field of Blood brought criticalacclaim and awards for stars Jayd
Johnson and Peter Capaldi.
2. BBC Scotland paid tribute to thememory of a fine singer-songwriterin Gerry Rafferty – Right Down
the Line.

7

SERVICE PERFORMANCE CONTINUEDChildren’s favourites Copycats and OOglies
both returned to CBBC for their third
series; All Over The Place came back for asecond series, and Who Let The Dogs Out?
bounded onto the channel. Sport Relief
Does Glee Club hit the airwaves for the
first time, along with Comic Relief DoesGlee Club. And the sixth series of Nina andthe Neurons: Brilliant Bodies went out on
CBeebies, as did the second series ofSame Smile.
Events coverage remains a mainstay of BBC
Scotland output. The Proms from Dundee
offered Alfie Boe, BBC Scotland Young
Traditional Musician of the Year Kristan
Harvey and the wonderful talents of theDundee Proms Chorus, available across theUK via the BBC Red Button. T in the Parkfeatured on BBC One, Two, Three andon BBC Red Button, the World Pipe Band
Championships, from Glasgow Green, werestreamed live for a third time and werewatched in 82 countries across the globe;
and over one million people tuned in for
Hogmanay Live 2011.

1

1. One of Scotland’s finest young
comedy talents made his series debutin Kevin Bridges: What’s the Story?
2. Almost 140 years ago the firstattempt was made to climb theGreat Stack of Handa. That feat wasrecreated in The Adventure Show’s
The First Great Climb.

82There was a rich mix of sport throughout
the year. Sport Nation featured golf, rugby,
ice hockey and athletics, the AdventureShow brought fell walking on Jura andthe 2011 Mountain Biking World Cupfrom Fort William, and John Beattie andDougie Vipond were in Melrose in April
2011 for the 128th annual Sevens rugby
competition. Shinty’s Camanchd Cup Finalfeatured Badenoch rivals Newtonmore
and Kingussie.
Scotland’s European Championship hopes
were played out live as the national team
took on Liechtenstein and Spain, theScottish Communities League Cup saw
live coverage up to and including the 2012
final, and Scottish Cup coverage included
the 2011 final and a number of games fromthe 2011/12 competition. A studio debate,
hosted by Rob Maclean, examined the stateof Scottish football.

BBC Scotland Learning continued its
Authors Live partnership with the Scottish
Book Trust and the Scottish Schools
intranet, GLOW. Liz Lochhead and theauthor of Horrid Henry, Francesca Simon,
were among the writers webcast live from
Pacific Quay in front of an invited audienceof pupils and an online audience of up
to 50,000.
June 2011 saw the much anticipated launchof BBC ALBA on Freeview and cable,
extending the service’s availability to a wider
audience. In the last quarter of 2011, weekly
reach of the channel amongst the Gaelic
community averaged 76% and it more thandoubled its Scotland-wide weekly reach.
The service brought in new audiences withseries such as Dannsa, exploring the powerof dance, coverage of Magners League
Rugby, Do Bheatha dhan t-Saoghal, filmed in
the Highlands’ largest maternity unit, andthrough music events such as Rockness,
Belladrum and Celtic Connections.
Partnerships are fundamental to thecontinued success of BBC ALBA and a
key development this year focused on theneeds of learners of the language. Together
with MG ALBA and other bodies, including
Bord na Gaidhlig, www.learngaelic.net was
launched online.

1

Radio
BBC Radio Scotland
It was a year of creativity and ambition
across all programme genres. Our approach
was rewarded, with research showing
both higher listening figures and greaterappreciation.
That ambition was demonstrated in thecasting of The Quest of Donal Q. – with Billy
Connolly partnering Hollywood stalwart
Brian Cox for a contemporary reworkingof Don Quixote. New programmes andformats included the weekly Kitchen Café
and, during the summer, The Golf Show.
There was a special season under thebanner Men Like Us exploring issues ofmasculinity in Scottish society. Billy Kay
presented a series looking at the history of
Scotland’s universities. And we teamed up
with the Scottish Poetry Library to offer,over 30 weeks, a daily poem representing
each nation competing in the Olympic
Games.
Fun and nostalgia also marked out the year.
Jane Franchi returned as host of SuperScot
for two radio revivals of the TV favourite.
There was laugh-out-loud comedy fromThe Stand clubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow
and our gentle sitcom Piano Lessons cameback for a second series. In March webegan recording a new panel format – The
Guessing Game – hosted by Clive Anderson.

2

1. Up to 50,000 schoolchildren fromaround the UK watch the live online
streaming of each of our Authors
Live events.
2. B
 illy Connolly and Holyrood
veteran Brian Cox joined forces
for the The Quest of Donald Q.

9

SERVICE PERFORMANCE CONTINUED

The BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional
Musician of the Year entered its 12th year
and, for the first time, we had TV coverage
courtesy of colleagues at BBC ALBA.
Our news teams covered the Scottish
Election and its implication for all parties.
Political Editor Brian Taylor continued his
weekly debates from locations acrossScotland and Kaye Adams opened thephone lines each morning to hear theviews of listeners on the issues that matterto them.
In 2011 the BBC Trust completed its
review of the BBC Radio Scotland Service
Licence. It concluded that the station
offered distinctive programmes that1

1. Clive Anderson was joined by
Rory Bremner and others for
The Guessing Game.
2. Rona Wilkie won the BBC Radio
Scotland Young Traditional Musicianof the Year.

102

were appreciated by listeners. The Trust
supported the future strategy of offering
more speech programmes in daytime andmore specialist music in the evenings.
Network RadioBBC Scotland continued to provide content
for most of the UK networks and among
our success stories was the daily 4 O’ClockShow for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
We continued as a key supplier of drama,
readings and features to BBC Radio 4 andof music to BBC Radios 1, 2 and 3. We
supplied BBC Radio 3 with concerts fromthe Edinburgh Festival and we provided
BBC Radio 2 with programmes from Celtic
Connections in Glasgow.

We used our expertise in jazzprogramming to pilot a project whichallowed all BBC stations – local and national– to share and cross-promote content.
Our sports teams worked with colleagues
at BBC Radio 5 Live to offer commentaryon some Scottish football games and toprovide updates on the controversy andupheavals within the sport in Scotland.
BBC Radio nan Gàidheal
Daily shows such as Coinneach MacIomhairand Feasgar offered listeners access to avariety of views on current issues, withhour-long special programmes linked inwith events including the Year of Island
Culture. Creative partnerships helped
us to meet some of the demand fromaudiences for more drama and comedy
in the schedule. The dramatic monologue
Os mo chionn Sheinn an Uiseag formed apivotal part of the Hogmanay programming
and, with the support of MG ALBA, a newformat De do Naidheachd used news andcurrent events to create an entertaining
and witty panel show.

1

As well as offering live commentary ona selection of domestic and international
football matches, BBC Radio nan
Gàidheal also followed the developing
story of the Highland Amateur Football
Cup competition, culminating in the live
broadcast of the final.
OnlineFollowing the BBC’s online review, anddespite significant budget reductions,audiences continued to rise. Average
weekly UK unique browsers rose by overone million to 3.5 million for the year. Thiswas driven particularly by traffic to Newsand Sport. News online averaged over 2.5
million weekly UK unique browsers, from
December 2011 to February 2012, and theReferendum and Rangers stories combinedin the second week of February to boost
the /Scotland site’s UK unique browsers
to 5.16 million, its highest ever level.

2

1. T in the Park was only one of themany festivals covered live by
BBC Scotland.
2. BBC Radio nan Gàidheal’s Aileag
celebrated its 20th birthday withpresenter Janice Ann MacKay.

11

LOOKING AHEAD
Our ambition is to produce world-class, impartial journalism; torepresent Scotland to itself and to the rest of the world, especiallywith new drama and comedy; to celebrate the unifying eventsand the cultural diversity of Scotland and to collaborate to makethe best of Scotland’s talent and creativity, while exploiting digitaltechnology and new broadcast platforms.
The best journalism
We will continue to provide the best, mostinformed journalism that resonates with ouraudiences.
On television we will build on the successof Reporting Scotland, which, as Scotland’s
most watched television news programme,
continues to serve an audience of morethan 500,000 viewers each night. Special
focus will be placed on a nightly sequenceof specific news stories from across thecountry, ‘Scotland in 90 seconds’.
Across all of our broadcast platforms
we will offer comprehensive coverageof the forthcoming Scottish Independence
Referendum, including debates anddocumentaries.

1

1. Coverage of the Olympic Games
will be at the heart of our summer
schedules in 2012.
2. We will continue to build on the
success of Reporting Scotland,
Scotland’s most watched TV
news programme.

122

In the coming year we will delivercompelling coverage of the Scottish Local
Council elections, the Queen’s Diamond
Jubilee and the Olympics, with particularfocus on Scotland’s competitors.
We plan to build on the success of ournews online coverage and live pages toattract more readers and viewers. Page
impressions now top two million UK uniquebrowsers in any typical week. We will
also continue to expand our social media
presence to ensure our news output is as
widely available as possible.
Local communities and local government
will remain an important focus for our radio
and online journalism. These services willcontinue to deliver breaking news stories
to our audiences.

As the UK Government’s plans for local
television take shape, we will consider how
best we might work in partnership withthose organisations charged with providing
those services.
Inspiring knowledge and culture
This year will see a major four-part TV
documentary series, presented by veteran
Hollywood actor Brian Cox, viewing history
and societal change through Scotland’s trade
in tobacco, opiates, alcohol and sugar.
A third series of Grand Tours of Scotland,presented by Paul Murton, will bebroadcast, continuing to reflect theexperiences of Victorian travellers
and tourists.
Three single documentaries will look atimportant periods of conflict in the historyof the nation – The Romans In Scotland,
The Last Battle of the Vikings and Montrose:
Scotland’s Greatest Warrior.

1

A new six-part series telling the stories ofpeople living and working in and around
Aberdeen Harbour will transmit, reflecting
a rich environment blending new andtraditional industries.
The Artworks Scotland strand will continue
to explore Scotland’s rich cultural heritage.
And across the schedules our programming
will cover topics as diverse as photography
and photographers, Glasgow’s Sauchiehall
Street and a documentary on the mining
community in Fife.
We will capitalise on the decision to locate
in Scotland the roles of Controller, BBC
Factual and BBC Head of UK Arts
Production and we will continue to build on
the expertise and experience that we havein innovative and challenging arts, factual andscience programme production.

2

1. Paul Murton will return withanother series of the hugely popular
Grand Tours of Scotland.
2. Our rich cultural heritage willcontinue to be the focus of
Artworks Scotland.

13

LOOKING AHEAD CONTINUED

Ambitious UK drama and comedy
The popular school drama Waterloo
Road will make a well-publicised moveto Greenock this year, as part of acommitment to grow the drama output
from Scotland. The series, currently being
filmed in its new Scottish home, willtransmit later in the year.
Lip Service, which follows the lives of twentysomething lesbians in Glasgow, will returnfor a second series. Crime thriller The Fieldof Blood will also return, with the second of
Denise Mina’s series of novels being adapted
for broadcast later this year.
Case Histories, starring Jason Isaacs, isplanned to return and a new ambitious
two-parter, Red Bones – the first in theseries of Shetland-set detective novels by
Ann Cleeves – will premiere this year. It
will also be a big year for our continuing
drama, River City, which celebrates its
10th anniversary on screen.
Now established as the most successful
current UK comedy series, Mrs Brown’s Boys
will return with an extended run and a oneoff festive special in 2012.

1

1. W
 aterloo Road made its way
north and is now filmed in theformer Greenock Academy
building in Inverclyde.
2. All Over The Place will returnto CBBC.

14

2

A new network series for BBC Four, Bob
Servant: Independent has been commissioned
for this year. Starring Brian Cox as the
eponymous by-election candidate, it is thefirst TV comedy to be set on Tayside.
There will be a third series of Burnistoun,
Gary: Tank Commander and Limmy’s Show, as
well as a number of new pilots, underlining
BBC Scotland’s continuing commitment tothe best emerging and established talent.
Outstanding children’s content
Superhumans will combine adventure,science, challenges and laughter as extreme
explorer Tim FitzHigham sets out to findthe human beings with super powers
whom he believes walk among us.
All Over The Place will return to CBBC, withthe presenters crossing the Atlantic to the
USA to savour the delights of mashedpotato wrestling, ugly dog competitions
and more.
There will be a second series of Who Let
the Dogs Out? and a new spin-off, Who Let
the Dogs Out and About?

Sport Relief Does Glee Club will return, hosted
by Sam and Mark, as will, for its seventh
series, Nina and the Neurons: Engineering.
My Story will pioneer the concept of history
to pre-schoolers, taking children on ajourney to discover their own and theirfamily’s history through fun, adventure
and play.
Bitesize will continue to support pupils
through Standard Grades and Highers in
Scotland. This year, as well as looking ahead
to new National 4 and 5 qualifications
within the Curriculum for Excellence, wewill have more Bitesize Maths and Science
revision games and video to support thosestudying Sunset Song.
March 2012 saw the online launch of the
26-part animation Ask Lara, helping 9–13s
with the ups and downs of puberty. Televised
broadcasts will follow later in the year.
Events that bring communities andthe nation together
Scotland plays host to over 370 festivals
each year and BBC Scotland will offer abroadcast platform to the artists, authors
and performers involved in many of them.
This will include extensive coverage, on air
and online, of events such as the Edinburgh
International Festival, T in the Park,
Proms in the Park, the World Pipe Band

1Championships and Celtic Connections.
BBC ALBA will broadcast from the
National Mod and from festivals such as
Belladrum and RockNess. And many of
Scotland’s book and film festivals will becovered in programmes such as Radio
Scotland’s Book Café and Film Café.
Radio Scotland will also reach out toaudiences with output such as the seasonof programmes looking at the challenges
and opportunities faced by people when
they reach middle age.
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
will once again combine its live audience
performances with recordings for BBC
Radio 3 and outreach and partnershipwork with students from Scotland’sConservatoire. Concert highlights will
include appearances at the Edinburgh
International Festival and the orchestra’s
contribution to the BBC Proms at theRoyal Albert Hall.
The major sporting event of the year willbe the London Olympics. BBC Scotland
will play its part in covering the footballaction from Hampden Park in Glasgow
and in providing in-depth news and sports
reporting on the progress of Scottish
athletes in Team GB.

2

1. Nicola Benedetti and the BBC
Scottish Symphony Orchestra thrill
the audience at the BBC Proms,
broadcast live from the Caird Hallin Dundee.
2. Sam and Mark will host anotherseries of Sport Relief Does Glee Club.

15

KEY PRIORITIES FOR NEXT YEAR

Value – BBC One Scotland HD
BBC One Scotland will be delivered in
High Definition in 2012/13. The £2million
investment will allow BBC Scotland
programmes to be viewed in a quality thatis increasingly becoming the norm for highquality television output.

Openness – 2012 Olympics
BBC Scotland will make a significant
contribution to this year’s Olympic Games,
both in terms of the Cultural Olympiad andin coverage of the Games themselves. Our
Young Apprentices scheme will equip anumber of individuals to take full advantage
of broadcast employment opportunities
associated with the Games.

Distinctiveness –Investigative Journalism
The delivery of high-quality investigative
programmes in Scotland and on network
on TV and radio will remain a core priority
in news and current affairs. We will build on
our record of success, providing journalismthat is authoritative, responsible andbalanced and which reflects Scotland toitself and to the world.

Serving all audiences – Online
The new BBC Scotland homepage waslaunched in May 2012. We are working
on content around nature, related to the
Scotland the Wild archive and on a poema day from the online Burns collection. We
will continue to exploit our archive arounddrama and comedy and we will preparecontent to mark major events such as the
Olympics and anniversaries such as thoseof Piper Alpha and Lockerbie in 2013.

16

CONTACTS

If you wish to find out more about
the BBC’s year – including full financial
statements and performance against otherpublic commitments – then please visit
www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport
If you want to know more about
how the BBC is run then please visit
www.bbc.co.uk/info
BBC Information is our audience’s virtual
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17

SCOTLAND MANAGEMENT

Ken MacQuarrie, Director,
BBC Scotland

Ewan Angus, Commissioning Editor,
Television and Head of Sport

Wendy Aslett, Head of HR and
Development

John Boothman, Head of News andCurrent Affairs

Donald-Iain Brown, Head of TalentDivision and Operations

Mairead Ferguson, Head of Marketing,Communications and Audiences

Donalda Mackinnon, Head ofProgrammes and Services

Bruce Malcolm, Chief Operating
Officer

Ian Small, Head of Public Policy andCorporate Affairs

Catherine Smith, Head of Strategy

Jeff Zycinski, Head of Radio

18

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