World Tour of Scotland is a six-part television series — the first of Billy Connolly's "world tours" — originally broadcast by the BBC in late 1994. It involved his touring around his homeland of Scotland for 54 nights during early 1994, beginning in Greenock and visiting cities and towns and performing live on stage to audiences. However, this, like all his other tours, involved more than just shows: he visited numerous places of historic and scenic value, as well as some places that resonate with his own upbringing. The series was dedicated "with much love and thanks to the people of Scotland". It has since been released on VHS and DVD. On the latter format, the six episodes are split across two discs.
CreatorBilly Connolly
Isle of Arran, Glasgow, Loch Lomond
Jul 12, 1994
* Isle of Arran * Brodick Village Hall (concert venue) * Glasgow: Dover Street, the street on which Connolly was born; Provand's Lordship; The tenement building where Connolly lived between the ages of fourteen and twenty; Glasgow Cross; Necropolis; Auchengillan scout camp (where Connolly, in the 141 Pack, visited as a cub scout) * Loch Lomond
Partick and Govan, Stirling, Scone Palace, Forth Bridges and South Queensferry
Jul 19, 1994
* Partick and Govan * Stirling (including the MacRobert Centre concert venue) and Bannockburn * Scone Palace ("Never to be pronounced Scone.") * Forth Bridges and South Queensferry
Blair Atholl, Highlands, Inverness, Culloden Moor
Jul 26, 1994
* Blair Atholl * Highlands * Inverness * Culloden Moor
Ulbster, Caithness, Wick, Orkney Islands, Lerwick, Shetland
Aug 2, 1994
* Ulbster, Caithness * Wick * Candacraig House (Connolly's Highland home)[1] * Orkney Islands o Ring of Brogar (referred to by Connolly as the Standing Stones of Brogar) o Kirkwall o Scapa Flow (to which he travelled on the fishing boat Triton) * Lerwick, Shetland (including two performances in the same night at the Garrison Theatre; the latter took him into the next day)
Arbroath, Dundee , Scottish Borders, Kelso
Mar 29, 1994
* Arbroath (where he sampled a smokie) * Dundee (including footage from his performance at Caird Hall) o Dundee Law (Connolly gave a straight reading of William McGonagall's poem The Tay Bridge Disaster within sight of the Tay Rail Bridge. During the course of filming, a blizzard happened, and about two inches of snow fell) * Scottish Borders, Kelso (including footage from his performance at Tait Hall) Connolly almost ventured into English territory at the end of the fifth episode when he cycled past the "Scotland" sign in Roxburgh. "I've come a bit far here, I believe," he says, after screeching his bike to a halt. "And me out without my passport. It is a Scottish tour, after all. One thing confuses me, however," he continued, as he prepared to retrace his route. "If this is the border with England, and this is the border with Scotland, what happens in [between]? Maybe it's owned by the Manx government, or something. I don't know. Perhaps you can build a house here and never pay tax again."
Edinburgh
Aug 16, 1994
* Edinburgh Castle (including the firing of the one o'clock cannon) * Court of Session * St. Giles' Cathedral * Mary King's Close (Annie's room) * Usher Hall (concert venue, from where Connolly performs a pre-show piece to camera)
