03/07/2008

A ‘docudrama’ about a Scottish serial killer from the 1950s, is to be made by the production arm of stv owners, SMG, for a forthcoming digital TV channel dedicated to Gaelic language programming.

SMG Productions is currently in production with an one-hour docudrama about the life and death of Peter Manuel.
 
Funded by the MG ALBA - which was the name of the Gaelic Media Service until last Friday - ‘Peter Manuel - Deireadh an Uilc?’ (‘Peter Manuel - The End of Evil?’) will be broadcast shortly after the launch of the Gaelic Digital Service is launched in September.
 
Peter Manuel’s killing spree finally came to an end when he was arrested in January 1958 and, after conducting his own defence at the High Court in Glasgow, he was one of the last prisoners to be hanged at Barlinnie prison. He was hanged in July 1958.
 
Presented by well-known Gaelic journalist and former BBC Scotland network correspondent, John Morrison, the film stars Ron Donachie and Anna Hepburn.
 
Says Patsi Mackenzie, development executive for Gaelic at SMG Productions: “We’re very pleased to be making one of the first programmes to go out on the new Gaelic Digital Service. The Manuel story is such a compelling one. It’s particularly exciting to introduce drama of this nature to the GDS, delivering the kind of quality viewing the entire Scottish audience is bound to find appealing.”
 
Added MG ALBA’s head of content, Alan Esslemont: “We hope that many of our programmes will create resonance for a national audience in Scotland and Patsi’s excellent team gives us a promise of high quality and a long-standing understanding of what Scots viewers want to see.”

The Gaelic Digital Service will be available on Freesat.


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