The Culture Swally

We’re off on our barge this week on The Culture Swally, as we look at the 2003 film, Staring Ewan McGregor, Peter Mullan, Tilda Swinton and Emily Mortimer, Young Adam. The film follows McGregor as a  young drifter working on a river barge who disrupts his employers' lives while hiding the fact that he knows more about a dead woman found in the river than he admits. In the news we meet a shopkeeper...

It’s Thursday, so you know what that means! Late Night Shopping! Yes, on The Swally this week, we look at the 2001 film, starring James Lance, Kate Ashfield, Luke de Woolfson and Enzo Cilenti. It follows Sean, Vincent, Jody and Lenny who work graveyard shifts in various soul-killing jobs (a hospital, a supermarket, a factory and a call centre, respectively) and meet up in a cafe after work to kill...

We’re off to sea on this episode of The Culture Swally as we look at the 2013 film, For Those In Peril. Written and directed by Paul Wright, it tells the tale of a remote Scottish fishing community, coming to terms with a tragedy. Starring George MacKay, Kate Dickie, Jordan Young and Michael Smiley, it was a first viewing for both Nicky and Greg. In the news we meet the most petty neighbour in cha...

We’ve covered a few police shows on The Swally over the years, but nothing quite like this as we look at the pilot episode and the first series of BBC Scotland’s Scot Squad! The series is a fly on the wall documentary, following the fictional 'Scottish Police Force’, essentially the Real Life Police Scotland, a newly unified force that polices the whole of Scotland. Starring Jack Docherty, Jordan...

It’s a listener request this week on The Swally as we cover the wonderful Ken Loach film from 1998, My Name Is Joe, as selected by Gary from Doric Skateboards. Starring Peter Mullan, Gary Lewis, Louise Goodall, Dave McKay and David Hayman, it tells the tale of two thirtysomethings, unemployed former alcoholic Joe, who manages his local football team full of recovering addicts and Sarah, a communit...

We’re heading back to 1983 on this episode of The Swally as we look at the 2023 BBC documentary Aberdeen ’83 Once in a Lifetime. The definitive story of how Aberdeen FC went from the nearly men of Scottish football to winning both the European Cup Winners Cup and European Super Cup. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer, or it's also available on YouTube at the moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw...

We’ve covered a few Irvine Welsh adaptations on the Swally and on this episode we delve into the film adaptation of his 1994 book, The Acid House. Covering just three of the 22 short stories featured in the book; The Granton Star Cause, A Soft Touch and the story which the book takes it’s name from, The Acid House. Starring Ewen Bremner, Kevin McKidd, Michelle Gomez, Stephen McCole, Maurice Roeves...

We’re heading back to 1982 on The Swally this week as we look at the first series of the wonderful Scottish crime drama The Field of Blood. With an all star cast including Jayd Johnson, Ford Kieran, Matt Costello, David Morrissey, Peter Capaldi and our favourite Stephen McCole, this is an adaptation of the novel by Denise Mina. It tells the tale of young reporter Paddy Meehan, who investigates the...

We’re getting all legal on The Swally this week as we look at the first series of The Advocates from 1991. A Scottish legal drama, broadcast on ITV, starring Ewan Stewart and Isla Blair. When a young prostitute is murdered by a deadly drug overdose, only Doctor Joe Sangster, who has been treating her at the local health clinic, suspects foul play. In the growing climate of fear over drugs and Aids...

We’re heading off to Westminster Abbey this week on The Swally to get our bloody stone back as we look at the 2008 film, Stone of Destiny. Based on real life events and starring Charlie Cox, Kate Mara, Stephen McCole, Peter Mullan and Robert Carlyle, it tells the tale of a group of Scottish nationalists who liberate the Stone of Scone and take it back to Scotland…where it belongs! You can watch St...

It’s a musical interlude on The Swally this week as we tune up our guitars and tinkle the ivories and look at the 2014 film, God Help The Girl. Written and directed by Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch the film tells the tale of Eve, who begins writing songs as a way to sort through some emotional problems, then she meets James and Cassie, two musicians each at crossroads of their own. T...

Your favourite fortnightly beautiful creatures are discussing some more beautiful creatures, in more ways than one on this episode of The Culture Swally. In the news we meet a man who has some exotic beautiful creatures he likes to take care of and then we meet a man who has some more sensible beautiful creatures he likes to pamper and make special meals for. We also discuss fights in chip shops a...

Greg and Nicky are chilling their wine in the burn and eating their sandwiches from the same Mother’s Pride bag as they delve into the Peter McDougall and John Mackenzie classic The Elephants’ Graveyard. Starring John Morrison and Billy Connolly, it tells the tale of Bunny who spends his day hiding in the woods, too frightened to tell his wife he's not really going to work and is actually unemploy...

We’re getting spooky this February as we delve into the 2013 film Lord of Tears also known as The Owlman overseas. The low budget Scottish horror film, directed by Lawrie Brewster, tells the tale of James, a school teacher, plagued by recurring nightmares of a mysterious entity, as he travels to his childhood home because he suspects a link to a dark incident in his past. And it’s available for fr...

We’re jumping on the ferry this week as we look at the first series of the BBC Scotland crime drama Shetland. Starring Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez, the first series tells the tale of Jimmy investigating the murder of elderly Mima Wilson, who is found dead on her croft! In the news Greg tries to annoy Nicky by talking about Aberdeen’s losing streak, we meet a man who got more than he gambled...

We’re back with a brand new episode of The Culture Swally and we’re kicking off 2023 with a belter! That’s right, we’re looking at the 1998 BBC Scotland TV drama Looking After Jo Jo! Starring Robert Carlyle, the show is set on an Edinburgh council estate in the bleak 1980's and follows rising drug dealer Jo Jo McCann who is hellbent on gaining money and power at all costs. In the news this week we...

Happy New Year from The Culture Swally! We hope you had a wonderful time over the festive period and had a belter of a Hogmanay! As mentioned on our last episode, we’re having an extra week off to recover from the most wonderful time of the year. But we thought we’d put together a selection of our favourite news stories from 2022! So if you’ve listened before, kick back, relax and enjoy the best o...

Happy Hogmanay from The Culture Swally! As we get ready to celebrate ringing in the new year we thought we’d better get our best pants washed, so we nipped down to the washhouse to have a look at the Hogmanay classic, 1988’s The Steamie. Written by Tony Roper and starring Eileen McCallum, Dorothy Paul, Katy Murphy, Sheila Donald and a young Peter Mullan, the play focuses on the lives of a group of...

It’s our Swally Festive episode this week, which means Nicky and Greg have their Jingle Balls out and are talking about everything Christmas. On this episode we take a look at 2017’s Anna and the Apocalypse, a zombie horror apocalypse musical, set at Christmas….in Scotland. In the news we meet a mum who is desperate to get her Christmas toy shopping finished, but keeps getting pestered, hear about...

It’s a special episode of The Swally as part of The Scottish Podcast Collaboration Week. We have a special guest on the episode this week, the wonderful Marti from the Mums, Mysteries and Murder podcast joins us for a very special crossover! On the show we delve into the 2020 ITV drama, Des, focusing on the crimes of Fraserburgh native Dennis Nilsen. Starring David Tennant, Daniel Mays and Jason W...

It's a special bonus episode of The Culture Swally, as we had the pleasure of speaking with Ali from the wonderful Scots Whay Hae! podcast!    As part of the Scottish Podcast Collaboration week, Ali was so generous to have a host if guests on his show to discuss their podcasts and the inspiration behind them. So hear us chat about the creation of The Culture Swally and also discuss our favourite e...

It’s time for another National Treasure on The Swally this week as we look at the 1979 film from Bill Forsyth, ‘That Sinking Feeling’. Following hapless Ronnie, played by Robert Buchanan and his friends including Billy Greenless, John Gordon Sinclair and John Hughes as out of work and out of luck pals. Fed up of their hopeless lives, they decide to pull of the heist of the century. In the news we...

We’re off to Stonemouth on this episode of the Swally as we look at the 2015 adaptation of the Iain Banks novel…Stonemouth! Starring Christian Cooke, Charlotte Spencer, Chris Fulton and Peter Mullen, it tells the tale of Stewart Gilmour, who returns to his childhood home and tries to discover the truth behind his best friend's death. In the news this week we meet Austin, a Malaysian student and Ce...

This week we have the pleasure to be invited back to join Clare, Kenny, Rab, Janice, Fist, Dirka and Lachlan as we look at the second series of The Book Group. Originally airing in 2003, the series catches up with our favourite members of the group and finds out just what they have been up to since we last met them. Plus we get to meet some new members of the group.    We take a wee break from tra...

We are continuing our Swally Spooktacular as we celebrate the month of October. On this episode we look at 2014’s White Settlers. Starring Pollyanna Macintosh and Lee Williams, as a couple who find their new home in Scotland is not quite as hospitable as they would have hoped. The film as also known as The Blood Lands for some of our overseas listeners.    In the news we hear about a brazen thief...