World Tour of Scotland

World Tour of Scotland is a six-part television series — the first of Billy Connolly's "world tours" — originally broadcast by the BBC in July and August 1994. It involves his touring around his homeland for 54 nights during early 1994, beginning in Greenock and visiting cities and towns and performing live on stage to audiences. However, this, like all his other tours, involves more than just shows: he visits numerous places of historic and scenic value, as well as some places that resonate with his own upbringing.

World Tour of Scotland
DVD box-set cover
Created byBilly Connolly
Nobby Clark
Steve Brown
StarringBilly Connolly
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of episodes6
Production
Running time180 minutes
(30 min/episode)
Release
Original networkBBC One
Original release12 July 1994 - 16 August 1994

The series is dedicated "with much love and thanks to the people of Scotland". It has since been released on VHS and DVD. On the latter format, the six episodes are split across two discs.

The series is often repeated on the UKTV channels Dave and Blighty.

Opening and closing titles

The opening titles feature an aerial view of the Range Rover (driven by Connolly throughout the series)[1] making its way through various locations and weathers. The camera is mounted atop four metal legs, several feet in length.

The closing titles feature an excerpt of Connolly's performing his cover of Van Morrison's "Irish Heartbeat", live at Edinburgh's Usher Hall, over landscape views of the areas visited in the respective episodes.

Episode guide

Episode 1

The series begins with Connolly aboard a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry sailing down the west coast.

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5
  • Arbroath (where he samples a smokie and revisits the location at which he lost his virginity)
  • Dundee (including footage from his performance at Caird Hall)
    • Dundee Law (Connolly gives a straight reading of William McGonagall's poem The Tay Bridge Disaster within sight of the Tay Rail Bridge. During the course of filming, a blizzard happens, and about two inches of snow falls)
  • Scottish Borders, Kelso (including footage from his performance at Tait Hall)

Connolly almost ventures into English territory at the end of the episode when he cycles past the "Scotland" sign in Roxburgh. "I've come a bit far here, I believe," he says, after screeching his bike to a halt. "And me out without my passport. It is a Scottish tour, after all."

"One thing confuses me, however," he continued, as he prepares to retrace his route. "If this is the border with England, and that is the border with Scotland, what happens in here? Maybe it is owned by the Manx government, or something. I don't know. Perhaps you can build a house here and never pay tax again."

Episode 6

Music

The music featured in the series is available on Connolly's 1995 album Musical Tour of Scotland.

Notes and references
  1. Another Range Rover (number plate L863 ORV, as opposed to the one Connolly drove (L154 THP)), was used for pick-ups. The hair and eyebrows of the look-alike (from behind, at least) driver are more bushy than Connolly's, and he is wearing a big ring on his right hand and bracelet on his right wrist. Connolly, however, wears neither.
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