Edinburgh-based drama Guilt had to be filmed predominantly in Glasgow because the capital is too “impractical”, according to figures involved in making the series.
BBC Scotland’s four-part black comedy, which began last Thursday and continues this week, stars Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives as brothers who run over a pensioner in Leith, and attempt to cover up their part in the man’s death.
Despite being set in Edinburgh, shooting took place mostly in the west of Scotland.
The drama was filmed largely in warehouses at Parkhouse Business Park in the north of Glasgow, previously used for productions including BBC1 dramas Trust Me and The Victim.
- BARRY DIDCOCK'S TV REVIEW: Guilt, BBC Scotland
Other scenes were shot at Clydebank Docks East and Aberfoyle in the Trossachs, which doubled for the Highlands.
The crucial setting – the Leith neighbourhood in which the hit-and-run takes place – was actually located in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire. Location manager Tim Maskell said filming in Edinburgh would have been impractical due to logistics and higher costs.
He said: “It’s difficult to facilitate filming there (in Edinburgh) – it’s very rare to get any space to park your big vehicles, and if you find a site, it will probably have been built on six months later.”
He also estimates that filming in Edinburgh is 30 per cent more expensive than Glasgow, and says the crew base in Scotland is bigger on the west coast. Producer Jules Hussey added: “The tourist footfall alone in Edinburgh makes getting across town hellish.”
Numerous industry figures have criticised the lack of film studios in Edinburgh, and across Scotland. And Hussey said that the fact Parkhouse is not a dedicated film studio also created problems.
“Across the site, we had to deal with everything from playground rides being refurbished to a noisy children’s dance academy,” she said.
Writer Neil Forsyth, who previously wrote 2017 Morecambe and Wise drama Eric, Ernie And Me for BBC4, said: “I wanted the show to be set in Edinburgh – it’s such a filmic city that I’m always surprised how little TV is shot there.
“Also, the east-coast Scotland tone is very important, as it’s a different voice to the west coast.
“The humour is a bit more absurdist and the tone in general is a bit whimsical -– kind of melodic.”
A few scenes were shot in Edinburgh, including a house in Charlotte Square, which doubles as a foreign embassy. But Bonnar, who went to school with Sives in Edinburgh before they became actors, said he was only there for two days.
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