Sunset Song & Cloud Howe

Summary

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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