The Northern Lights

Ann an 1969, chunnacas prògram aithriseach air BBC 1 mu dheidhinn am Pole Star, soitheach a bha a' frithealaidh taighean-solais ann an ceann a tuath na h-Alba. Ged a bha Bòrd Taighean-Solais a' Chinn a Tuath air tòiseachadh air mòran de na taighean-solais atharrachadh gu bhith fèin-obrachail, bha cuid fhathast air an obrachadh le luchd-glèidhidh agus b' e obair chudromach is chunnartach a bha ron a' chriutha 's iad a' dol a-mach gu na taighean solais as iomallaiche an Alba. Am measg nan taighean solais air an do thadhal am Pole Star anns a' phrògam seo, bha Taigh-solais nan Eilean Flannach, siar air Eilean Leòdhais, far an deach triùir luchd-glèidhidh a dhìth ann an suidheachadh air nach tàinig fuasgladh riamh.

The Northern Lights was first broadcast on BBC One in 1969 and followed the Pole Star, a Northern Lighthouse Board relief vessel and her crew as she serviced some of Scotland's most remote and inaccessible lighthouses. Although the Northern Lighthouse Board had begun the process of automation by then, several manned lighthouses remained and the crew of the Pole Star had the crucial role of taking relief crews and supplies to these lighthouses. The Pole Star visits the Sule Skerry and North Ronaldsay Lighthouses in Orkney, as well as the infamous Flannan Isles Lighthouse - where three keepers disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1900.