Brian Beacom

It’s fair to say the world of keeping pigeons is not seen by everyone as sexy. When we think of men and their doos (and it’s almost invariably men) we think of wartime misery, of s***-splattered crumbling huts and older blokes with bunnets gently pecking the mouths of creatures whom they’ve become overly fond of, perhaps even hypnotically controlled by. It’s also fair to generalise that those who keep doos tend not to be life’s extroverts, the types who in fact like to spend lots of quiet time in personal reflection.

The impact Chris McClure made on the music scene simply can’t be denied.

When it comes to No Love Songs, there is no need for hyperbole. Quite simply, this is one of the most powerful theatre journeys an audience is likely to be taken on this year. You will laugh until you cry. And you will simply cry.

In his 2013 book, Damian Barr writes of growing up in Newarthill in North Lanarkshire, the son of a steel miner who lost his job in Ravenscraig. He was a Catholic in a Protestant community and a gay schoolboy at a time of Section 28 which shut down open conversations about homosexuality in schools.

The radio presenter was sacked by the BBC, all part of a cull of older presenters of the time. But where the likes of major talents such as Steve Wright and Simon Mayo migrated onto Radio 2, Gary Davies dropped off the air waves.

WHO would have thought that a curious glance at a bank note image of a Scots writer wearing Wonder Woman headgear would result in a powerful, utterly compelling new play?

MORNA Young was certainly doing backflips in her mind when Dundee Rep’s artistic director Andrew Panton called with an idea; would she be interested in adapting Sunset Song?

What makes the Swedes so deserving of continual recycling, when all they’ve offered is Europop tunes and often confused lyrical imagery?

THIS isn’t simply a television series; this is an event.

Gabriel Quigley, one of Scotland’s most talented actors, has adapted the Muriel Stark novella, The Girls of Slender Means, and it’s clearly been a labour of love.