Darren McGarvey reckons his BAFTA Scotland nomination for his latest series is a warning to anyone wanting to make a show like The Scheme.
The Daily Record columnist teamed up with production company Tern TV for Darren McGarvey’s Scotland showcasing the rise of poverty and inequality in the country.
But under his direction he made sure the contributors were treated justly and with compassion rather as people to be laughed at.
While thrilled at being nominated in the factual category, Darren claimed in a video that the series has changed the “conversation around poverty that exists in TV.”
Claiming TV was a middle-class industry, the award-winning writer of Poverty Safari – who also has a podcast Darren Speaks – said: “Whether the series wins a BAFTA or not it doesn’t really matter to me because our goal was to move the needle, to create a shift within the Scottish television industry so people would think very, very carefully about ever making something like The Scheme again.
“Whether it wins awards or not - we achieved that.”
Darren says he hopes working class people and their experiences would now be more than “just a sidebar” to middle class assumptions.
The writer, rapper and social activist's series is up against Frankie Boyle’s tour of Scotland and Murder Trial: The Disappearance of Margaret Fleming in the factual series category.
Guilt leads the BAFTA Scotland nominations with five including stars Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives both being up for best actor television
Jack Docherty is battling himself in entertainment. He’s up for Scot Squad: The Chief’s Election Interviews and advert clip show Selling Scotland.
Gail Porter is nominated for her Being Gail Porter in the single documentary category.
The digital ceremony will be lived streamed on December 8 from 7pm and hosted by Edith Bowman.
