Voice of a nation

THE PROCLAIMERS: THIS IS THE STORY

BBC2, 9pm IT’S 30 years since The Proclaimers sparked a slow revolution in mainstream music with their debut album This Is The Story.

At a time when Scotland was teeming with fake soul bands who seemed to wish they’d been born somewhere west of Long Island, twins Craig and Charlie Reid wore their roots as a badge of honour, singing just as they might at a Hibs football match. Their single Letter From America was a massive surprise hit and they have become one of Scotland’s best loved music acts. And their No1 smash I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) is arguably more synonymous with their homeland than Flower of Scotland.

The story is told in the words of the Auchtermuchty boys themselves, in conversation with David Tennant.

Charlie remembers how they resisted pressure from record labels to tone down their accents and “throw the R away”.

He says: “We’d gone to London and met a couple of people who said we like the songs but the accent… I couldn’t see the point of writing songs about stuff we knew and then singing it in a mid-Atlantic accent.”

The show also features famous fans incuding First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Little Britain’s Matt Lucas.

Back then, Scottish nationalism was a minority interest and Letter From America’s roll call of Thatcher-ravaged towns roused a passion for many.

Sturgeon, who grew up in Irvine, says: “Letter from America came out at a time when I was getting really involved in politics so it wasn’t just that my home town was mentioned in it but it was also that it spoke of something about my country that was also motivating me to get involved in politics.

“So that song for me is the anthem of my teenage years.”