Darren McGarvey's Scotland

In 2018 Dundee was the drug death capital of Europe - Darren McGarvey goes behind the headlines to find out why. Meeting those caught up in the problem, he discovers an unexpected reason.

In Edinburgh Darren examines the link between poverty and crime: how does it impact kids and their future? But soon Darren discovers a hidden problem: wealth.

Statistically, just being born a woman means you are more likely to experience poverty. For Darren McGarvey - aka Scottish rapper Loki - that notion is beyond horrific - it's criminal. Starting at a Reclaim the Night rally in West Dunbartonshire, itself described as the worst place to be a woman in Scotland, Darren sets out to understand what is actually going on. Meeting Astyn, a vocal survivor of domestic abuse, and Kirsty, a family counsellor, Darren is propelled into a world of women who are making real change. In Dumbarton Academy, local entrepreneur Brenda is doing what she can to put an end to period poverty, something one in five female pupils face, while kinship carer Micheleine shows Darren the importance of family bonds. Lastly, he meets Pamela, whose daughter Paige Doherty was brutally murdered. As Pamela talks about violence by men against women, she shows Darren how she has channelled her unimaginable grief by setting up a charity to give free self-defence classes to children. As his journey into gender inequality comes to an end, Darren is full of awe and admiration for the women he has met along the way. It is they who are building solutions to this massive disparity. And it is time society recognises them.

In Glasgow, Darren McGarvey - aka Scottish rapper Loki - is on home ground, exploring an issue dear to him: why do men in Glasgow’s Possilpark die on average 13 years younger than anywhere else in the UK? They call it the Glasgow effect, which conveniently masks just how ugly the realities are. To help him understand, there is no better expert than GP Lynsay Crawford, who has been working at the sharp end for most of her career. She takes him to meet local patient and former soldier Andy, who reveals that after four heart attacks he no longer worries about them. As Darren explores how the decline of industry and the explosion of drugs in the 1980s has blighted this community, he meets James, a former rail worker now local heroin dealer who reveals another side to the drug world: need. Later he meets Nick, who has alcohol-related brain damage as a result of his drinking and who hopes to turn his life around. However, there is another side to the area - community spirit. Proud local boy Brian takes Darren on a tour of his part of the city, the place he calls home. But as he nears the end of his journey Darren wonders what, if anything, might solve Possil’s staggeringly low life expectancy. In the local community centre, badly in need of a facelift, he meets a group of extraordinary dancing grannies that might just have the answer - line dancing.

In this fifth episode, Darren McGarvey travels to the Borders. The terrain may not be familiar to him but the issues are. It is a large area stretching from south of Lothian to north of the English border, with rolling hills and farmland, but as Darren observes: "You could be forgiven, when immersed in such idyllic scenery like this, for thinking that poverty is not an issue here in the Borders. It actually is, it's just that it isn't visible in the same way as some of Scotland's urban areas." Along with poverty, there is an issue with mental health problems, and Darren meets a range of people to understand how this impacts in rural areas.

Aberdeen and the sharp contrast between its rich and poor - and the resulting homelessness - is the focus of the sixth and last destination in this six-part series. Scotland's oil capital since the 1970s, the city has a swathe of high earners - but is it is now being hit hard, with more food banks than any other city.