Rewind 1990s

Rewind 1990 revisits all the great moments from that year, the shows we loved, the music we enjoyed, the events we remember and the news stories still impact us today.

This episode revisits and replays the key moments from 1991, bringing back the best tunes and movies from a momentous year.

Revisit the sounds, sights and significant events of 1992, the year of a new president in the US, a new boy band and the start of a new national stadium.

Rewind back to the news, TV and music of 1993, when the MV Braer runs aground on Shetland, Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting is first published and The Bluebells were 'Young at Heart'.

It’s the year a Scottish band has a record-breaking hit, there’s a new music event that will attract thousands, and Robin Williams tries out a Scottish accent as Mrs Doubtfire, the box-office smash about a cross-dressing nanny. It’s the year that Wet Wet Wet are No.1 for weeks with their cover of the Troggs’s Love is all Around, featuring on another movie hit of the year, Four Weddings and a Funeral. It’s also the year that the very first T in the Park is staged. In short, it’s all change at Celtic as Fergus McCann takes over the club, and it’s a victory for First Division team Raith Rovers as they win the Scottish League Cup. Also in 1994, South Africa holds the first election in which citizens of all races are allowed to take part, and Nelson Mandela becomes the country’s first black president. In the UK there’s a sense of shock at the sudden death of Labour Leader John Smith, later in the year, Tony Blair is elected as leader of the party. 1994 is the year the Queen boards the first train service through the Channel Tunnel, and the National Lottery holds the very first draw, though not everyone in Scotland can buy a ticket.

Rewind to 1995 to relive the music, the shows and the news of a year to remember. It’s the year Mel Gibson took Scottish history to Hollywood with the release of Braveheart, along with a star-studded gala premiere in Stirling. Pierce Brosnan makes his ‘double-oh’ debut in Goldeneye, alongside the first female ‘M,’ played by Judi Dench. The Skye Bridge opens, and on TV we meet Highland cop Hamish Macbeth for the first time. The show stars Robert Carlyle and is shot on location in Plockton and Kyle of Lochalsh. Also on TV that year, Julie Goodyear calls time on her 25-year role as Coronation Street landlady Bet Lynch. We meet Friends for the first time, and George Clooney gets his big break with the launch of E.R. In politics, PM John Major continues to face criticism from Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers, in a bid to silence his critics he steps down as leader… and announces that he will stand for re-election in a leadership contest. After three years of separation from Prince Charles, the Princess of Wales gives a controversial interview to Martin Bashir for BBC One’s Panorama. There’s terrible news for Take That fans as Robbie Williams announces he is leaving the band. Also in music, former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins releases his biggest solo hit, A Girl Like You. Rangers break the transfer record by signing Paul Gascoigne for £4.3 million, and at Manchester United, Eric Cantona is in trouble.

It’s a year that’s marked by one event that will never be forgotten, the murder of 16 children and a teacher at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling. There is widespread shock, anger and disbelief later in the year and after much campaigning, legislation is announced that will tighten the country’s gun ownership laws. 1996 is also the year that the Prime Minister John Major announces that the Stone of Destiny, upon which Scotland’s monarchs were historically crowned, and was captured by Edward I in 1296, is to be returned to Scotland. It is taken to the Crown Room in Edinburgh Castle. After its closure in 1992, the iconic Ravenscraig Steel Works are demolished this year. It is also the year 31 passengers are trapped when a fire breaks out in the Channel Tunnel. At the movies, Trainspotting, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh and directed by Danny Boyle, opens in UK cinemas to critical acclaim and commercial success. Scottish football fans travel to London to support the national team’s campaign in the European Championships, but the Tartan Army’s cheers are silenced as Scotland’s plans unravel. In music, we encounter Girl Power, courtesy of the Spice Girls, for the first time, and there’s devastating news for boy band fans, Take That announce they are to split after three years and a string of number one hits.

The Chase

Relive the end of a decade, the end of a century and the end of a millennium. 1999 was a momentous year in Scottish politics as the country goes to the polls.