BBC Scotland is to launch a multi-million-pound blockbuster that will chart the human story behind the great days of the Clyde shipyards.
With the working title The Clyde, the costume drama will be given the Upstairs Downstairs treatment by basing the story of Glasgow’s great shipbuilding heritage around two 19th-century families.
One will be the ‘aristocratic’ yard owners and the other the working-class family whose father and sons work in the yard.
The scale of the project is unprecedented in television drama production, and will require European or US co-production funding to cover the massive costs.
A source said: “This will attract a stellar cast of actors. There are roles for some of our finest performers, including Robbie Coltrane, Robert Carlyle and Dougray Scott.”
The project is the brainchild of Sigma Films, a production company based in the old Govan Town Hall, now known as Film City. They are best known for art house pictures such as Young Adam, starring Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton, and Red Road, which won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Cannes festival.
The company’s executives have recently returned from the Sundance Film Festival, where their latest film, Perfect Sense, starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green, had its world premiere.
While the shipbuilding saga has just entered the script stage, BBC Scotland is seeking production partners for the network venture.
Production isn’t expected to begin until 2012, but there is a clear appetite for period costume drama after ITV’s recent success with Downton Abbey and the BBC’s revival of Upstairs Downstairs, which was first a hit for ITV in 1971.
Read more: Express
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