Dundee film and TV guide delivers nostalgia and features all-star cast from Billy Connolly and Jim McLean to Succession favourites.

Lights, Camera, Dundee! explores the city’s filming history and venues used in films, television shows, and advertisements.

Graeme Strachan A new book highlights the rich history of film and television productions shot in Dundee throughout the years.

The film and television industry has exploited venues that many of us pass every day, such as Dundee High School, The Taxi Club, and Dundee Law.

No production is considered too obscure, from a 1989 Drambuie commercial to the iconic moment the Succession cast walked the stage at the V&A. Brother and sister team. Tom and Julie Christie wrote the site guide.

Lights, Camera, Dundee! focusses on filming locations in Dundee and the surrounding area that have appeared in advertisements, documentaries, films and television series.

Brian Cox, Helen Mirren, and Scarlett Johansson are among the stars to appear.

1. “The hardest part was tracking down all of the features to include in the book, after the idea was hatched in the office of Paul Campbell from The McManus,” according to Julie.

 

1. “The result has been a celebration of Dundee which highlights its many attractions.” QR codes are included to facilitate self-visitation. Discovering films and TV series made in the area, such as music videos and commercials, was a delightful aspect of the endeavour. These have included anything from science fiction epics to bizarre comedy.
2. The Caird Hall was briefly turned into a theatre in cold Soviet Russia, and The Cundeez’s Christmas in the Schemes music video evoked nostalgia from the 1970s. Tom and Julie have shared some of the moments that will be permanently preserved by the lens.
   

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Dundee

Julie commented: “Donald Alexander’s film, which was narrated by Alastair Borthwick and Tom Smith, delivers a fascinating overview of Dundee life through various interviews with Dundonians of different ages and backgrounds.”

The city’s premiere of the short film ‘Dundee 1939’ was cut short by an air raid siren following the advent of war in September 1939.

The Silver Fleet

The 1943 film Silver Fleet, starring Ralph Richardson, was a story of resistance and self-sacrifice set at a Dutch shipyard under German occupation.

Tom stated: “Given the period of shooting, during the Second World War, the places available to the filmmakers were limited.

The Eastern Wharf in Dundee served as the berth for the fictional U boat, U108, with the Fish Dock’s pier visible in the distance.”

An Englishman Abroad

Dundee played Moscow in the 1983 BBC television movie An Englishman Abroad.

Tayside Region’s roads department used inches of road salt to convert City Square and Exchange Street into a passable replica of Moscow.

Tom shared: “The production crew also redressed some shops in Dundee city centre, replacing signage with temporary frontages showing Cyrillic Russian lettering and placing period-appropriate goods in the windows – all to keep up the accurate façade of the oppressive Soviet Moscow environment.”

Jute, Jam and Jim McLean

The documentary, first aired in February 1987, focused on the buildup to the impending Uefa Cup match between Dundee United and Barcelona. Julie responded:

“The manager’s legendary tenacity and strategic talent is highlighted, as was the economic depression facing the city of Dundee at the time.”

Christabel

Liz Hurley, 23, portrays novelist Christabel Bielenberg in the BBC’s first broadcast of her life story in November 1988.

Dundee was converted into Berlin during Hitler’s reign. Julie stated that the filmmakers made extensive use of Dundee as a filming location.

The High School railings were covered in swastikas in the shape of the Reichstag.

It’s My City!

Joanna Lumley hosted an episode of the BBC travelogue series in Dundee in 1989. She went to Radio Tay and the Skarne blocks in Whitfield.

Tom went on: “With Lumley as an engaging host, the episode was a fascinating snapshot of a city with no shortage of innovation and community focus, auguring well for its future.”

Bottle (Drambuie commercial)

The Drambuie TV commercial from 1989 was one of the decade’s most iconic.

Julie said: “Robert Hardy portrays the host of a dinner party on a gorgeous tourist island, but the event is quickly jeopardised when he pours the last drop of Drambuie.

“He makes a call to Drumbuie’s Scottish headquarters. “A bottle is dispatched immediately as a top priority by courier.

“The van races past the Forth Road Bridge to Dundee Airport, where the bottle then passes to a private jet.”

Jute City

Jute City is a three-part BBC thriller from 1991.
Jute City was a three-part BBC thriller from 1991.

The film was set in Dundee and starring David O’Hara, Clive Russell, and John Sessions. According to Tom, the series made the most of its “shadowy urban Tayside setting”.

“With a dark but genuinely unexpected denouement, and some excellent filming in and around Dundee, Jute City skilfully took its place alongside other grittily uncompromising Tartan Noir mysteries of the time,” he told me.

It was set in Dundee and starred David O’Hara, Clive Russell and John Sessions.

Tom said the series made the most of its “shadowy urban Tayside setting”.

“With a dark but genuinely unexpected denouement, and some excellent filming in and around Dundee, Jute City skilfully took its place alongside other grittily uncompromising Tartan Noir mysteries of the time,” he said.

Billy Connolly’s World Tour of Scotland

The Big Yin filmed visited the city in 1994 as part of his World Tour of Scotland.

He gave a straight reading of William McGonagall’s The Tay Bridge Disaster at the summit of Dundee Law, where he was surrounded by a blizzard.

Tom went on: “Undeterred, his battered anthology of McGonagall’s work all but illegible as the fresh snow battered down, Connolly gamely persevered until he reached the poem’s conclusion.”

Lenny Goes to Town

In 1998, comedian Lenny Henry went on tour for a six-part BBC program. Julie stated: “He looks into the city’s burgeoning reputation for computer game design.

“He also discovers what makes the city such a distinctive place by immersing himself in the local culture approving of its unique venues and outgoing people.”

Silent Witness

The Silent Witness episode In a Lonely Place was recorded in Dundee in 2014. The crew was tracking for a serial killer.

Tom stated that numerous sequences were filmed around the Tay Road Bridge.

The Taxi Club on Stirling Street was another venue.

Succession

Dundonian Brian Cox returned home to film the episode.

The filmmakers determined that his character, Logan Roy, should also be from Dundee.

Scenes were shot at Dundee University and the V&A, where Logan received a surprise meal to commemorate his milestone occasion.

Jeremy Strong’s character, Kendall, stunned his father with a cringe-worthy rap while wearing a Logan Roy-themed baseball jersey.

Julie elaborated: “The episode was praised amongst fans of the show for the way in which it broadened and deepened understanding of Logan Roy’s character – as always, perfectly articulated by Dundee’s own Brian Cox – and it also featured the establishment of the fictional Logan Roy School of Journalism.”

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