Director: Tony Kearney, Producer: Christopher Young, Morag Stewart, Sarah Jane Campbell, Production Company: Young Films, BBC Alba, Scotland, Language: Gaelic/UK, 8 Seasons 43 x 29′, 2014-2021, Rights: Europe, North America, and Australasia.
BBC Alba’s character-driven drama Bannan set in a tight-knit Highland community with conflicts and passions brewing just under the surface in a sleepy Scottish community on the Isle of Skye takes a new and darker turn in its 4th season. With murder and ‘whodunnit’ at its heart in the manner of Scandi-Noir, the series is designed to appeal to younger viewers.
“The drama was finally ready to step into the bleak world of hit dramas such as the Scandinavian noir successes The Killing or The Bridge.”
Chris Young, Creator
Padruig, played by Ewen MacKinnon, who has been revealed to be a rapist, is murdered with a blow to the head as he confronts the key character of Mairi, played by Debbie Mackay.
The series from the 4th season is a ‘whodunnit’, which leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat. It is a character-driven authentic story about the remote community in the Gaeltacht and the Highlands. The shows creator and producer Chris Young (The Inbetweeners) did not want to copy the violent crimes of Nordic Noir as that would not be true to the place but there is plenty of dark stuff going on in rural communities and indeed on a remote island.
Season 1-3 sets up the character-driven drama; when the successful lawyer Mairi returns back home to the island which she deserted eight years ago for a funeral, she ends up staying. She left to escape her family and the claustrophobic island and customs. She has recently become a mother and the relationship with her boyfriend is not easy. Coming back to her roots sets her on a journey of rediscovery. Mairi brings a breath of fresh air into her family circle who’s perfect wealthy image is falling apart.
The film-makers say “Mairi’s journey reawakens the unresolved conflicts that are rooted in her memory of home: love and hate, past and present, suffocation and freedom”.
