STAYING IN Special
JACOBITE’S LADDER
It’s set and fi lmed in Scotland, so why haven’t local audiences had a chance to see Outlander yet? Claire Flynn investigates the latest US TV hit
not to include it in order to draw less attention to the landmark in case of future i lming. Is it any good? The show has been incredibly successful in the US, picking up viewers as the i rst series reached its mid-season break in September before it returns next April. Critics have been generally positive about the show; in particular, it's been heavily praised for the radically different and arguably feminist way it deals with sex and Jamie and Claire’s relationship.
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Why haven’t I seen it yet? release Neither date has been announced for the UK. Rumours circulated in August that British television reluctant to broadcast Outlander due to the ongoing debate surrounding Scottish independence, worried that it might inl ame a yes vote. However, to to blame. suggest Whatever the reason for the current snub, it is unlikely to continue with the ever-growing popularity and demand for the show. A British broadcaster is expected to eventually snap up Outlander – but we don't yet know when. is no real evidence
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What’s Outlander about? It’s 1946. While on her second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands, Claire Randall walks through a stone circle and suddenly i nds herself in 1743, two years before the beginning of the Jacobite Uprising. Claire quickly falls for Jamie Fraser, a young Scottish warrior, and becomes torn between her desire for him and her devotion to husband Frank, who’s still in the future. Tell me more . . . The i rst book in the series was released in 1991, and has since been followed by seven more New York Times bestsellers. The books have now been published in 26 countries and 23 languages. Author Diana Gabaldon is currently working on the ninth in the series.
the It sounds a bit like Game of Thrones. While two series have some similar characteristics (they're both inspired by British history and are based on a series of very, very long books) they are actually quite different. Yet the Outlander books and the TV series continue to be labelled as the 'Scottish Game of Thrones'.
So, it’s set in Scotland? Gabaldon was inspired to choose 18th-century
Scotland as the setting for her novels because of a Doctor Who episode featuring a man in a kilt from the 1700s. The author recently admitted, however, that she hadn’t visited Scotland before writing the book and used library research to shape a vision of her chosen setting. She has now been here several times and claims it is (luckily) exactly how she imagined it.
Who’s in the show? Irish actress Caitriona Balfe plays Claire, while Sam Heughan from New Galloway takes on the role of Jamie. The pair have been in several i lms and television shows before but remained relatively unknown until this point. The show also features Tobias Menzies, who played Edmure Tully in Game of Thrones, and veteran Scottish actors Bill Paterson and Gary Lewis. Where was it i lmed? Several places across Scotland including Falkland, Culross and the Highland Folk Museum in Kingussie are featured in the show. Doune Castle was used to represent Castle Leoch, seat of Clan MacKenzie. Despite its starring role, the castle has been omitted from the tourist map created by VisitScotland for fans. Gabaldon claims VisitScotland was asked
22 THE LIST 16 Oct–13 Nov 2014