COLIN MACDONALD RADIO DRAMA
COLIN MACDONALD was born and brought up in Sutherland and Caithness. He was a journalist and an award-winning radio producer before becoming a full-time writer. Radio plays are shown first on this page, followed by a few notes. Other writing credits are further down. Colin lives in Edinburgh.
Colin worked in 2004 with Portuguese director Fernando Vendrell on a feature film called "Tender & True".
Radio plays:
1986 Burning The Ballroom Down (BBC Radio Scotland, R4)
1987 The Colour of Summer (R4, BBC World Service, ABC Australia)
1991 Doing a Runner (R4)
1995 Hossack's Child (R4)
2004 Hill of Rains (R4)
2006 Killing the Butterfly (R4)
2008 The whole of the moon (R4)
2009 All at Sea (R4)
date nk The Battle of The Airwaves (BBC Radio Scotland )
date nk (BBC Radio Scotland )
date nk Two Shadows Creeping (BBC Radio Scotland)
2006 King of Hearts (BBC Radio Scotland)
NOTES ON THE PLAYS
Burning The Ballroom Down
R4 September 1986
Director: Stewart Conn.
Cast included: Jimmy Chisholm and Anne Louise Ross.
A legendary country and western singer returns home in search of his childhood sweetheart. But life turns out to be like a country song.
The Colour of Summer
R4 1987
Director: Stewart Conn
Cast included: Michael Elder
Set in the 1960s, a group of children in the Scottish Highlands think that the pop star Millie ("My Boy Lollipop") has arrived in their small town.
Doing a Runner
R4 December 1991
Director: Stewart Conn
Cast includes: Juliet Cadzow (of "Balamory" fame!) and Andy Gray.
A savage restaurant critic is tricked into wrecking his own reputation.
Hossack's Child BBC
R4 1995
Director: Patrick Rayner
Cast includes: John Buick
A hard-headed bachelor fisherman gets broody for a baby.
Hill of Rains
R4 2004
11th September 2004
Director: Marilyn Imrie.
cast includes: Lorelei King and Bill Paterson.
On Staten Island, a woman discovers a secret hidden in a picture. A love affair which crosses the centuries and bridges the Atlantic.
Radio Times: Cathy travels 3000 miles from Staten
Island to Argyll, to look for the truth in an old story. She leaves
her heart there, but discovers that real love follows you home. Cast:
Lorelei King, Bill Paterson, Stuart Milligan, Debora Weston, Stuart
McQuarrie, Sean Scanlan, Tracey Wiles, Sally Kinghorn, Ed Bishop.
KING OF HEARTS....2006
Radio Scotland. 14 Feb 06. A Valentine's Day play about turmoil in
a barber's life and the drama surrounding the football team he
supports - Heart of Midlothian.
KILLING THE BUTTERFLY....2006
Saturday play, 2 Dec 06. A thriller set on the sleeper
between London Euston and Edinburgh. Two murder witnesses
are put under police protection. But it all goes wrong ...
stars Simon Tait, Vickie Liddelle. Produced by Patrick Rayner.
THE WHOLE OF THE MOON....2008
Five-episode Woman's Hour drama, also broadcast in the evenings, 5 x 15m, 29 Sep 08-.
A young Edinburgh prosecutor investigates a crime which is very close to home. Legal drama.
With Vicki Liddelle, Steven McNicoll, Simon Tait (as Ross and also as Tom), Paul Young, Robin Laing, Eliza Langland, Wendy Seager, James Bryce.
Producer Patrick Rayner.
ALL AT SEA....2009
The attempted hijacking of a cruise ship by a group of Somali pirates. With Grant O'Rourke and Maynard Azianshi. 16 Feb 09; produced by David Ian Neville.
Stage plays:
The Gowk Storm (Royal LyceumTheatre, Edinburgh)
The Heart of Saturday Night (Theatre PKF at the Traverse, Edinburgh)
Books:
Moon Mountain (Lunar Press)
All The Young Dudes (Pulteney Press)
Heartland (Exiles Press)
Television films:
The Dunroamin Rising (BBC One) Nominated as best single drama of the year by the Royal Television Society
The Gift (BBC One)
The Wreck On The Highway (BBC One)
Sharpe's Honour (Central Films/ITV)
The Real Thing * (BBC Scotland Schools) *also directed and produced
Simon's Challenge (BBC Schools)
Episodes in television series:
Making News (LWT/ITV)
Dr Finlay (Scottish/ITV)
The Tales of Para Handy (BBC One)
Blue Murder, ITV1, Fri 10 Nov, 9pm, with Caroline Quentin
Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
