Episode 1

Portrait painter, Angus Lordie, observes the goings on of his neighbours and friends in and around 44 Scotland Street.

In this series, seven year-old Bertie Pollok has 'issues' when his domineering mother Irene organises his social life. And Irene has issues when her husband Stuart offers to take Bertie to Glasgow of all places.

Local café owner Big Lou has a new love in her life whose politics hark back to the Jacobite days. And then there's Domenica – an anthropologist – trying to write a report on her most recent adventure exploring the lives of modern day pirates.

An encounter with a gangster, a suspected kidnapping and the possibility of a new political leader ensure life for Scotland Street's residents is never uneventful.

Alexander McCall Smith dramatises stories from his bestselling series, 44 Scotland Street, which continues to delight readers around the world.

Angus Lordie ...... Crawford Logan
Domenica ...... Carol Ann Crawford
Irene ...... Emma Currie
Bertie ...... Simon Kerr
Stuart ...... David Jackson Young
Big Lou ...... Anita Vettesse

Director: David Ian Neville

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016.