Skip to content

BBC Scotland's Landward marks its 50th anniversary

BBC Landward presenters Shahbaz Majeed, Anne McAlpine, Dougie Vipond, Arlene Stuart, Cammy Wilson and Rosie Morton walking along a country path.BBC
Shahbaz Majeed, Anne McAlpine, Dougie Vipond, Arlene Stuart, Cammy Wilson and Rosie Morton are the current presenters

BBC Scotland's Landward television programme is celebrating 50 years of broadcasting.

The popular rural affairs show first aired in April 1976 from BBC Aberdeen.

It continues to be produced in the Granite City half a century later.

The anniversary is being marked with a special episode on Thursday looking back over the years. A new series of the show is under way.

Billed as Scotland's farming programme, the inaugural episode featured items on the National Farmers' Union conference and suckling cattle.

The show's first presenter was Ross Muir.

In its early years, the programme was broadcast fortnightly on Sunday lunchtimes, winning fans among audiences across rural and urban Scotland.

During the decades, Landward widened its brief from a specialist farming programme.

Issues such as land reform, land buyouts, animal disease outbreaks, renewable energy expansion and Covid have been covered.

Ross Muir, the first presenter of Landward, dressed in a grey suit in a studio setting.
Ross Muir was the first presenter of Landward in 1976

The current presenting team is made up of Dougie Vipond, Anne McAlpine, Shahbaz Majeed, Arlene Stuart, Cammy Wilson and Rosie Morton.

To mark the milestone, Vipond catches up with some of the show's veterans.

A compilation section features a host of previous presenters, including Nick Nairn.

The current presentation team also share some of their favourite moments.

Landward presenters Arlene Stuart, Shahbaz Majeed, Cammy Wilson, Dougie Vipond, Anne McAlpine and Rosie Morton in a room, with a TV which says 'Landward 50'.
Landward now has six main presenters who get out and about around the country

Louise Thornton, the head of commissioning at BBC Scotland, described Landward as being "at the heart of Scotland's rural storytelling" for 50 years.

She said it shone a light on "the people, landscapes and issues that shape our countryside".

"Its commitment to authenticity, depth and local voices has made it a constant in the BBC Scotland schedule, and a trusted companion for audiences across generations," said Thornton.

"We're incredibly proud to mark this milestone and to celebrate the Landward teams and stories down the decades."

The first episode of the new series of Landward airs at 20:30 on Thursday on BBC Scotland, and is also on iPlayer.

More on this story