So I finally looked at an episode of Hamish Macbeth from the 1995-97 BBC series. It was quite enjoyable, but, of course, quite different from what I recall of the books. Robert Carlyle, the actor playing Hamish, is quite good and very appealing, but threw me at first because he just wasn’t tall and gangly and red-haired enough. Priscilla had morphed into the author, Alexandra; a bit warmer but not as appealing as the book character; there is a rather jolly lot of locals at the pub, rather than the tsk-tsking Currie sisters I’d expected; the dog was cute and the wild cat was missing; there’s no Angela and a rather young and handsome Dr. Brown; the police station is rather modern, and Hamish is not tending his sheep and chickens. There no Patel, but rather some comic relief for a shopkeeper. The hotel and pub seem transplated fromthe Agatha Raisin series. In general, the tone is lighter. Don’t know quite how a plot about domestic abuse and matricide, no, filicide (?) could be so amusing, but there you have it. I’ll watch some more. The first episode was “The Great Lochdubh Salt Robbery.” Also on the disc are “A Pillar of the Community” and “The Big Freeze.”
I do have to admit, if the truth be told, there were whole sentences I did nae understand. Hamish (is he not from Transpotting?) is understandable, but some of the minor characters are hard. And, of course, the setting is quite beautiful, but not quite the Sunderland sea loch I had expected. I have driven over some single tracks near where this was filmed, but I thank god I did not have to meet an oncoming vehicle on the Camel’s hump. Fun.
