‘This World’ in the Highlands

Press, 29 November 1977, Page 19

‘This World’ in the Highlands

The 8.8. C. “This World” documentary, to be shown on South Pacific Television tonight, is about the Highlands and islands of Scotland, and captures the essence of what is probably the saddest corner of Britain, and certainly the most beautiful. For centuries, highlanders have been drifting away — driven off their land by the difficulties of their environment and by the cruel events of history.

Today, the “empty fifth” of Britain shows a legacy of 200 years of exploitation and misguided paternalism. In making this film, the 8.8.C.’s helicopter flew more than 3000 miles over the Highlands and the associated islands — from Skye northward to Orkney, and from Balmoral westward to St Kilda, the loneliest of the British islands.

The camera looks down on a stone circle in Lewis which rivals Stonehenge; on Stac Lee, a rock 60 miles out in the Atlantic, which is the most crowded gannet colony in the world: on the roofless villages of deserted Hebridean islands; on crofters scratching an inadequate living from stony fields; and on post-war dams and forestry plantations intended to bring people back to the Highlands.

If there is wilderness anywhere in Britain, it is in the north and west For four months of the year, tourists go to be captivated by the beauty and the legend. But what their guides seldom tell them is that much of the wilderness is really wasteland which was created by the thoughtless misuse and “development” of the land, which is largely controlled by lowlanders and the English.