Panto dame hits 1,000-show milestone

PANTO dame Alan McHugh notched up his 1,000th performance last week at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen. Having started performing at the Granite City theatre in Snow White in 2004, McHugh has notched up 19 years of shows. The popular star was given a surprise presentation on stage at the end of the evening performance…

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Royal Scottish Academy gets Blackadder Houston bequest

THE Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) has received a donation worth more than £7 million from the estate of Dame Elizabeth Blackadder. The artist, who died last year, left the money to the arts charity to create the RSA Blackadder Houston Bequest. The money will help more than 60 artists and architects in Scotland each year.…

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Second TV series for Pettycur Bay Holiday Park

VISITORS and staff from Pettycur Bay Holiday Park at Kinghorn in Fife will be starring on the gogglebox again next month. A second series of Life on the Bay will be shown on the BBC Scotland channel on 8 January. The eight-part series, which was made by Red Sky Productions, will also be streamed on…

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The Heretic is a gripping read from start to end

The prequel to The Heretic, Liam McIlvanney’s The Quaker, earned him ‘The Scottish Crime Book of the Year’ prize. I’ve little doubt this will do just as well. It has all the ingredients for a classic piece of crime fiction: a dark, gritty plot, authentic characters and an unpredictable ending. Set in Scotland’s Dear Green…

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Crime fiction festival with added archives

A free exhibition staged as part of Aberdeen’s Granite Noir crime fiction festival at the end of this month shines a light into the hidden corners of the city’s past. Drawn from original records in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives, The Grit in the Granite showcases photographs, documents and maps to highlight the darker side…

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Crime writing festival returns on the 24th

Granite Noir, Aberdeen’s Crime Writing Festival, returns next week. Starting on Thursday, February 24, there will be more than 40 live, in person talks, workshops, performances, readings, escape rooms and films across four days. The event will feature some of the UK’s finest crime fiction writers including Louise Welsh, Ruth Ware and Ann Cleeves, creator…

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Documentary charts the rise of Scottish crime fiction

A new short film charts the rise of Scottish crime fiction and sheds new light on the success of the UK’s bestselling genre. Including never before seen interviews with some of the biggest names in crime writing, it traces the origins of one of key influences on all of their work. Produced by Publishing Scotland…

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Prizewinners unveiled at Bloody Scotland

The Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival has revealed the winners of its major prizes. The event, which ran from 17-19 September in Stirling, saw the presentation of two prizes, with the debut prize, as well as the McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish crime writing novel of the year. BBC Radio Scotland presenter and debut…

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A crime thriller in a turbulent period of history

Scottish crime fiction is a wonderfully rich and diverse area, as authors all over the land create their own characters and scenarios, with murders to solve. Unlike many others, Douglas Watt has taken a slight twist on the genre, by turning back the clock, as investigative advocate John MacKenzie cracks crimes in the 17th century…

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Bloody Scotland reveals shortlist for debut novel award

The Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival has revealed that three of the books on this year’s McIlvanney Prize longlist have made the shortlist for this year’s Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year. The 2021 shortlist is: The Silent Daughter by Emma Christie (Wellbeck) – from Aberdeen / Portobello No Harm Done by…

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