BBC Scotland has unveiled a multi-platform line-up of content to support our ‘boys in blue’, as they head to their first major football tournament in 23 years.
It’s been more than two decades since Scotland’s men last qualified for an international football tournament, so BBC Scotland will be joining the Tartan Army by making the most of next month’s Euro Championships with specially-commissioned television and radio programming across comedy, entertainment and factual.
This extra content will accompany our usual comprehensive sports coverage as our team attempt to make it past the group stages.
BBC Radio Scotland will be the home of the Euros as it lines up a packed schedule of content.
The Sportsound team, led by Richard Gordon, will bring live commentary and analysis on every Scotland game and the main match of the day throughout the competition while BBC Radio Scotland Euros Extra will serve up a brand new football-themed breakfast show on 810MW and the BBC Sport Scotland website.
From 11-23 June, The Full Scottish Football Breakfast will broadcast live each weekday morning from BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay foyer. Hosts, Kenny Macintyre and Connie McLaughlin, will bring an informed but informal and fun look at the Euros – with special guests joining for lively chat and debate.
Throughout the competition Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove will bring audiences a daily serving of Euros-themed Off the Ball banter across all platforms and frequencies on BBC Radio Scotland and there’ll be a humorous look at events with Euros specials from the Only an Excuse? and Breaking the News teams.
On television, the BBC Scotland channel and BBC One Scotland will treat armchair fans to a host of content to make us laugh, cry and reminisce – all prerequisite emotions for being a Scotland fan.
Across our regular news and sport programmes, Jane Lewis will be team camp reporter bringing all the latest news from the tournament and updates from the Scotland camp.
On the eve of the competition, Steven Thompson will look ahead to the championships with a special Sportscene Euros Preview programme and host the Sportscene highlights of the two Scotland matches away to England and at home to Croatia.
Scotland’s opening game against the Czech Republic will be live on BBC One.
Eilidh Barbour joins the BBC presenting team throughout the competition, with Shelley Kerr and James McFadden, bringing comment and analysis on Scotland’s group stage performance. When the dust has settled we’ll take a look back on how Steve Clarke’s team have performed in a Sportscene Euros Review.
Mr Brown’s Boys, a 1×60 documentary for BBC One Scotland, takes an affectionate, sentimental and fun journey back in time to France ’98 when Scotland fans took qualification for major tournaments for granted.
Told through the memories of the players – including Colin Hendry, John Collins, Paul Lambert and Jim Leighton – this documentary offers a chance to reappraise the football career and reputation of Craig Brown, Scotland’s longest-serving manager.
On the eve of the much-anticipated Euros clash between Scotland and England, a team of stars and football legends from North and South of the Border go head to head to settle the score once and for all.
In The Ultimate Auld Enemy Showdown, team captains Alan Rough and Chris Sutton lead their squads in a series of peculiar Group D-themed challenges before the grand finale – a Scotland versus England penalty shootout with a twist.
Playing for Scotland we have Jackie McNamara, Pauline MacDonald, Grado and the one and only Archie Gemmill. For Team England, it’s Anita Asante, Steve Hodge, Radzi Chinyanganya, and England’s World Cup hero, Geoff Hurst.
Away with the Tartan Army: Scotland’s Best Matches is a celebratory show which charts Scotland’s top ten international matches with a much broader means of selection beyond on-pitch performances and score-lines.
The matches can be terrible, the result awful but the journey amazing and filled with anecdotes that live long in the memory.
With recollections and testimony from fans, this programme will capture the agony and ecstasy of what it’s like to be part of the Tartan Army.
A View from the Euros will take an alternative look at the biggest party of the summer with a three-episode special which will swing from the serious to the silly, from pre-tournament hopes and dreams to the moment Scotland hopefully shocks the world to lift the trophy. Host, Craig Telfer and friends, will get together to answer all the big questions and welcome the odd special guest to join in the fun.
Scotland’s Football Jukebox takes us on a countdown through the memories with an essential playlist fired up with fantastic football anthems and pop hits and featuring football heroes and music stars who remember when we did indeed have a dream.
Amy Irons presents an accompanying radio programme which will look at thesoundtrack to decades of tartan hype ahead of major international tournaments.
There will be laughs courtesy of a Scot Squad Euros special where the nation’s other favourite team in blue get their game face on while the chief dispenses some strategies for policing a big event and some inspirational words for our boys to take on to the pitch.
Short Stuff, BBC Scotland’s short-form comedy strand will get the nation in the mood for the Euros with a host of regular new sketches which will feature across our social channels as well as a compilation special for BBC iPlayer and the BBC Scotland channel.
Des Clarke and his regular sidekick, Jim Smith, will host Breaking the News: Euros Special for both the BBC Scotland channel and BBC Radio Scotland.
Joined by guests they take a wry look at the news surrounding the Euros; from the drama of the games to the return of the fans – not to mention Scotland’s chances. They’ll also take a look back to the 90’s when we used to qualify for World Cups and European Championships and talk to some celebrity Scotland fans along the way.
To help those twenty-something fans who have little or no memory of our men’s football team failing in the finals The Old Firm Facts Guide to Surviving the Euros (wt) is here to offer a guiding hand.
Old Firm Facts, Scottish football’s satirical social media star, brings his unique brand of humour to BBC Scotland’s social platforms with a series of two-minute monologues that will disarmingly disassemble our hopes and dreams using his trade-mark withering wit.
Winner of the SFA’s Fan Awards Best Writer in 2018 and 2019, Old Firm Facts – whose anonymity will be guarded – will answer those questions that may only occur to a fan who’s never had to watch the group stages before.
BBC Radio nan Gaidheal will be offering Gaelic commentary and analysis on the Scotland matches and a host of complementary programming in the build up to each game. Scotland’s campaign will be covered across the scheduled news programmes as well as on BBC ALBA’s An La and the regular Spòrscast, podcast on BBC Sounds.
The topical morning show, A’ Mhadainn, will lead the build-up to Scotland’s first match and the drive-time music show, Siubhal gu Seachd, will bookend the day, capturing the mood in music.
During the campaign, history series, De nan robh? (What if), will get stuck into a seminal Scottish football moment and imagine where we would be now had things played out differently, and children’s show, Aileag, will engage with the passion of an upcoming generation for the beautiful game.
Commenting on BBC Scotland’s Euros offer, Louise Thornton, head of commissioning, said: “After what has been such a challenging period for all, it’s great to look forward to a major sporting event – but even better to have our own Scotland team competing.
“BBC Scotland is joining in the party atmosphere by bringing audiences a packed schedule of content to enjoy while we cheer on our boys and delight in their journey no matter how far it takes them.”
ENDS
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