This article appears as part of the Herald Arts newsletter.

To trumpet An t-Eilean/The Island as the BBC’s most expensive Gaelic language drama isn’t saying much.

As fields go, this one is thin to non-existent. No matter. The point is that we in Scotland are finally catching up after decades of head-scratching and wondering why the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Belgians and Welsh can make (or, let’s not beat about the bush, be bothered to fund) high-quality crime drama which is socially, culturally and linguistically specific.

And do trust me about the head-scratching bit. I’ve sat through enough Edinburgh TV Festival panels on this and associated subjects to know there are many who have questioned the absence of this sort of drama and, in doing so, come to the conclusion that along with a proper degree of autonomy, Scottish terrestrial broadcasters simply lack the will.

Now, I don’t wish to denigrate that branch of television’s Tartan Noir tree which is presented in English, because for every Granite Harbour (sorry, not a fan) there is a Rebus, a Guilt, a Karen Pirie.

But given the deserved success of high quality Welsh language productions such as Hinterland and the excellent Hidden, it has been obvious to anyone with eyes and ears that Scotland was missing a trick. Worse, it was actually being neglectful. After all, it was way back in 2013 that then Director of BBC Cymru Wales Rhodri Talfan Davies made it his mission to pitch Welsh language dramas into the mainstream BBC schedules.

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