His face masked by a big hat and dark glasses, the editor/publisher of a maverick Glasgow magazine says to the TV camera: “There are only two ways they can stop the magazine -
one is through legal action and the other is to shoot me.”
And so unfolds the tale of James Cruickshank’s ‘The Digger’, the subject of a BBC Scotland documentary on Tuesday.
Since it was established two years ago, The Digger has grown into a weekly publication, selling 11,000 copies in pursuit of the seedy, criminal and corrupt in north Glasgow.
It’s a magazine that has incurred the wrath of mainstream journalists and PR departments alike, for its often unorthodox style of gathering information.
And it’s the subject of a film by David Graham Scott, who volunteered to work for the magazine, as a photographer.
Says BBC Scotland: “As well as uncovering the potentially paranoid world of The Digger, the
programme talks to people in the local communities who love and loathe the mag.”
It quotes David Graham Scott: “I was interested in how such a crudely constructed paper was so popular – it seemed to speak with a voice that these communities understand. When I first met James Cruickshank, I knew right away that he was the kind of unconventional character I’m drawn to. I’m intrigued by the offbeat and the rebellious and Cruickshank certainly fits the mould.”
It’s on BBC One Scotland at 10.35pm on Tuesday.
