Hamish Macbeth

In the 1990s, M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth novels were enjoying wide success in the United States, and it was only a matter of time before someone would attempt to adapt the series for television. The photogenic Highlands of Scotland would provide the perfect backdrop for a mystery series.

The BBC Series

The books were optioned by Zenith Entertainment, and the series was created in collaboration with Skyline Film & Television for BBC Scotland. The series was produced by Deirdre Keir and Charles Salmon, with Trevor Davies, Scott Meek, and Andrea Calderwood serving as executive producers. The show was filmed on location in the picturesque village of Plockton, the town of Kyle of Lochalsh, and the surrounding areas in Scotland. The actor Robert Carlyle played the lead role of PC Hamish Macbeth. Daniel Boyle (not to be confused with the director Danny Boyle) was the primary writer, and he devised the series and wrote twelve episodes.

Boyle felt that the books’ plots and characterizations needed to be adapted to better suit television, and as a result very little of the books was used in the series. The mystery aspect was played down in favour of quirky comedy, and the character of Hamish was significantly altered for the screen, most notably his penchant for smoking cannibis. Hamish Macbeth was generally well-received by critics, and ran for three seasons from 1995- 1997.

M.C. Beaton was open in expressing her disappointment with the show. The significant change in tone and the fact that the series used almost none of the material from the books meant that fans of the books would not take to the television series, and fans of the series were unlikley to enjoy the books. The show's attempt to increase the amount of comedy while simultaneously trying to give the character of Hamish a dark side was particularly jarring for her; "They couldn't decide if they were making Taggart or Whiskey Galore," she said, referring to the gritty television series about a hard-nosed Glasgow detective, and a light-hearted comedy film about eccentric characters in a Scottish village.

Beaton eventually diverted some of her feelings about the series into a Hamish Macbeth novel, Death of a Scriptwriter. In that novel, the fictional 70-something writer finds her detective heroine will be portrayed as pot-smoking hippy and played by an unsuitable actor.

The Future

With the success of the television adaptation of Agatha Raisin, the production company behind it, Free@Last TV, have turned their attention to rebooting the series. With the aim of creating a show faithful to the novels, early production is already underway.