Yahoo Lifestyle Much Like ‘Kneecap’, Gaelic-Language Drama Series ‘The Island’ Is A “Gesture Of Defiance”
Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So we’re going to do the hard work for you.
This week we profile the world’s first ever high-end Gaelic TV drama series, which comes from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. With only around 60,000 Gaelic-language speakers left in the world, The Island is doing wonders for representation and at the same time constitutes so much more — an entertaining, twisty crime thriller featuring a dose of star power in the form of Industry breakout Sagar Radia. Commissioners and producers tell us the show makes a statement, and they are now setting their sights on international sales.
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Name: The Island (An t-Eilean)
Country: Scotland
Network: BBC Alba
Producer: Black Camel Pictures
For fans of: The Bridge, Hinterland, Trom
Distributor: All3Media International
It is not every day that a new BBC crime thriller is declared to be a “gesture of defiance,” but this is how BBC Alba commissioning chief Bill MacLeod feels about The Island (An t-Eilean).
This is because The Island is the first ever high-end Gaelic drama series. It emanates from the Outer Hebrides, a group of islands off the coast of Scotland whose inhabitants are some of the roughly 60,000 people left in the world who speak the Gaelic language.
The Island comes at a time when ancient languages from the region are in the spotlight after the similar “gesture of defiance” emitted by Kneecap, the Irish-language feature about the rap trio that has dominated chatter at indie festivals the world over and is nominated for six BAFTAs.
“This feels like a statement of confidence and pride and to a certain extent it is a gesture of defiance,” MacLeod tells Deadline. “It’s saying, ‘We are here, we are speaking, we are singing and we are creating’.”
Several years in the making, The Island is Gaelic-language network BBC Alba’s biggest ever drama, and was pre-sold in a major deal to BBC Four late last year for its coveted Saturday night international drama slot. Filmed on location and penned by Nicholas Osborne and Patsi Mackenzie, The Island follows Kat Crichton, a young Family Liaison Officer, who is assigned by her boss, DCI Ahmed Halim, to a murder investigation on Lewis and Harris, islands from which she fled 10 years previously. The brutal slaying of the wife of local tycoon Sir Douglas Maclean at a remote island mansion at first seems to be part of a botched burglary. However, Kat has past history with Sir Douglas and his wealthy but deeply dysfunctional family, and is convinced that, despite having been wounded in the attack himself, the self-made millionaire must somehow be implicated.
Landing ‘Industry’ star
Returning to the islands is an important moment for the main character and allowed the creative team behind the show to anchor everything within the Outer Hebrides. The show’s development and sell-ability was aided ten-fold by a dose of star power when it landed His Dark Materials star Sorcha Groundsell as lead and Sagar Radia — who broke out as loose cannon investment banker Rishi in Industry — opposite playing DCI Halim.
“We were really lucky to get Sagar,” says MacLeod. “It was fascinating for someone from a South Asian background. I think he really felt he could tune in to the idea of different generational attitudes and use of language.”
MacLeod jokes that London-born Radia was wondering whether he’d been abducted when he was driven up the single-track road to Amhuinnsuidhe Castle where the show was filmed. The cast and crew who assembled in the castle were subsequently said to have been totally accepting of the ghost of Lady Sophie, who haunts Amhuinnsuidhe. In the show’s press notes, Radia described The Island‘s setting as “gorgeous,” “beautiful” and “pin-drop silent.”
Beyond the buzzy leads, the show was given a boon when it secured director Tom Sullivan, a “graduate of the Irish system,” according to MacLeod. While not a Gaelic speaker, Sullivan is well-versed in the Irish language and was behind critically-acclaimed 2019 period drama Monster (Arracht), which was set during the Great Famine of Ireland.
“It was interesting to find a common tongue if you like,” adds MacLeod. “Tom got to the Hebrides and found it was so much like the West of Ireland. He suddenly felt this great emotional connection and a sense of responsibility to tell the story as well as he could.”
Sullivan’s hire spoke to MacLeod’s desire for the show to remain international and not be a “stereotypical [Scottish] portrayal of hills, bagpipes and tartan.” Another important cog in this global machine was Icelandic composer Biggi Hilmars, who “had a cinematic vision for the music that wasn’t steeped in traditional Scottish themes but was quite abstract and stripped down.”
Having been warmly received by critics (The Guardian wrote: “This Gaelic language crime drama should have happened years ago”), The Island is already BBC Alba’s best-performing show of all time and has been hitting the top 10s on BBC iPlayer around the UK. Its launches on BBC Four this Saturday February 15 at 9 p.m. GMT (1 p.m. PT). BBC Director General Tim Davie is an admirer. He headed up to the Hebrides to see The Island film (producer Arabella Page Croft jokes that the DG dirtied his normally box-fresh white trainers on the beach) and recently heaped praise on the show in front of a Scottish parliamentary committee.
With more than a touch of the ever-popular Scandi Noir genre, the team are now hopeful about the potential for international sales as All3Media International gets ready to shop the four-parter at the London TV Screenings.
Page Croft, who runs Glasgow-based The Island producer Black Camel, compares it in scope to hit international dramas like Wales’ Hinterland or Trom from the Faroe Islands. She envisages The Island working in Scandinavian territories and thinks it’s ripe for pickup from public broadcasters.
Page Croft had been working with the writing team for years trying to get The Island off the ground and says she relished the challenge. “I have always admired my Welsh contemporaries who originated Hinterland,” she adds. “That was very much my thinking when I looked at the amount of partners it takes to make a project in a new language. But I was never intimidated by the fact we would have to find multiple partners.” She lauds Screen Scotland and All3Media International, both of which she says recognized the potential of making a show that was an ode to the Scottish islands.
MacLeod rejects any notion that international buyers will be put off by the show’s language, pointing out that it is in both Gaelic and English and that viewers today are at ease with subtitles, as he flags non-English success stories like Shōgun and Squid Game. “People are fascinated by hearing another UK language and hearing it in the context of English,” he adds.
While the amount of work required to fund The Island means we may not see anything similar from these shores for some time, MacLeod says he would “love to do it again — we would fall over ourselves to do that.”
This “gesture of defiance” could be the start of something new, and something oh so important in the prolongation of ancient cultures and languages.
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