2011 © Hector MacMillan | Terms & Conditions

Honorary Fellow: Association For Scottish Literary Studies

“If we investigate only by physical and chemical means, we can only get physical and chemical answers.”

Sir Alister Hardy, FRS

Land Without Children

Written on spec. A 75’ TV play on the subject of and some of the reasons for depopulation in crofting areas.

My time with the SMBA on Cumbrae had made me aware of growing dangers to local fish-stocks, so when serious conflict between Hebridean inshore-fishermen and illegal trawlers [some, but not all, foreign] was increasingly reported I went over to Skye to talk with people who knew both the history involved and the evidence behind the immediate dispute.

It was clear that much illegal trawling was taking place, mainly at night. I was reliably informed that after trawlers had been detected sweeping local inshore bays, they left behind so much damage to the seabed that little of any value to local fishermen was available for an increasingly long time afterwards. Since the Fishery Protection Service was judged largely ineffective against such illegal activity, some crofters had resorted to using their legal 'anti-marauding-deer' 303 rifles to put shots across a few illegal bows.

The play was submitted to BBC TV Scotland but got lost at first among petty internal politics. After retrieval it was sent to the Wednesday Play unit at BBC TV London, who liked it but thought something so rooted in Scotland really should be produced in Scotland. On re-submission, it was bought by BBC TV Scotland, with hope of an early production.

After two years, production-finance still being unavailable, the original 2-year option was renewed. By 1972, the financial position still apparently unchanged, BBC TV Scotland abandoned the project.