Scotland from the Sky

In the first episode of a new series, presenter James Crawford explores how we have managed to surmount the challenges of our tough terrain to connect communities and places across the centuries. He takes to the air in a seaplane, landing in Loch Ness to reveal its geological secrets, uncovers traces of our Viking past, explores how we have crossed the treacherous Pentland Firth and flies above the stunning West Highland line. Finally, he visits the Highland crofters, going where no crofter has gone before at Scotland's first spaceport.

Presenter James Crawford takes to the air to discover how the wild landscapes of Scotland influence our sporting lives. He travels to the volcanic landmark Ailsa Craig on the trail of the best curling stones in the world and follows their remarkable journey from quarry to Olympic ice. In the Outer Hebrides, James tracks down a golf venue laid out by the founding father of course design that was almost lost to history, buried in the wild landscape of South Uist. He uncovers the remarkable story of the restoration of what has been called golf's Holy Grail. On the Isle of Rum, he finds out how the island's original inhabitants hunted deer sustainably for generations. James also discovers how the wealthy owners of the 19th century attempted to create a sporting paradise of hunting, shooting and fishing. In Glencoe, James explores how some of Scotland's mountains were opened up by a maverick group of climbers from the shipyards of Glasgow. He clambers up Rannoch Wall with one of Scotland’s leading young climbers, Natalie Berry. While in Livingston, he encounters the modern concrete landscape of the town’s legendary skate park and tells the story of the visionary architect who created it.

Presenter James Crawford takes to the air to uncover some remarkable forgotten histories, travelling back in time to our ancient past. He begins his journey with Scotland's lost canal just outside Glasgow, and then travels back to the heyday of airship travel, the abandoned island of Mingulay, and the dark history of Inchkeith Island in the Firth of Forth. He ends on the Isle of Lewis where archaeologists have recently discovered what might be a lost stone circle.