First Minister, John Swinney, and Culture Secretary, Angus Robertson, will visit the set of a new Scottish-based television production later on Monday.
Channel 4’s new TV drama Summerwater is currently filming in Scotland. The upcoming drama has received £700,000 through the Broadcast Content Fund from Screen Scotland- which is supported by Scottish Government funding.
The First Minister and Mr Robertson will take a tour of the set, talking with crew members and meeting with trainees working on the production.
Speaking ahead of the visit, The First Minister said: “Scotland boasts an incredibly innovative and creative film and television sector that continues to go from strength to strength.
“The creative industries are a vital asset to Scotland’s economy and we want to continue to support the sector to unlock its full potential.
“In our upcoming budget, our dedicated public body Screen Scotland will receive an additional £2 million to attract further investment in the screen sector.
“This is only part of a wider additional £34 million uplift that will enable our culture sector to flourish, through a budget that brings us halfway to reaching our commitment of investing at least £100 million more annually in the sector by 2028/29.”
Summerwater
Based on the Sunday Times Top Ten book by novelist Sarah Moss, Channel 4 has commissioned Summerwater, a new six-part drama series from Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund and Glasgow based production company Freedom Scripted, which has been adapted by screenwriter John Donnelly (The Assessment, Utopia, The Pass) and will be directed by Robert McKillop (The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies, Then You Run, Guilt).
Set against the backdrop of a remote loch-side Scottish holiday cabin park and set over the course of one single rainy summer’s day, Summerwater looks at the simmering tensions between holidaymakers that eventually erupt into a devastating climax. Weaving together the lives of several families as they navigate unspoken conflicts, private dilemmas, and fleeting moments of beauty from their disparate cabins, the series will take an unflinching but empathetic look at human nature across generations. Each episode will spotlight one or two of the ensemble of characters, spanning from young children to young lovers to reminiscing pensioners, to build a subversive, often witty, and always riveting portrait of the nation on edge that is modern Britain.
A thrilling and compulsive drama about nature, family, sex, class, tolerance and the fruitless pursuit of holiday escapism, Summerwater examines the strength of community in divided times.
John Donnelly, Screenwriter, says: “Sarah Moss writes with perception, compassion and wit about sex, love, and the dark impulses of the human heart. She is one of our most brilliant chroniclers of modern life. In Summerwater, Sarah has found the perfect environment to explore our secrets and desires – a rain-drenched holiday park in Scotland. Summerwater is at once an atmospheric mystery, a hilarious and heartbreaking exploration of identity and an existential thriller. I am delighted to be working with the brilliant team at Freedom Scripted to adapt Sarah’s wonderful novel for a broadcaster with such a pedigree for bold, ambitious drama.”
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