It is being billed as a ground-breaking social experiment building a new community “in the wilderness”, in a “remote and isolated part of the northern hemisphere.”
But participants in Channel 4’s forthcoming survival series set on the northern side of Ardnamurchan Peninsula, could easily walk to the pub for a pint of craft ale and within an hour or so, or pick up newly baked bread at the local bakery.
KEO films have been commissioned by the broadcaster and have already been casting for “skilled Brits.”
It adds they can be “..everyone from fishermen to foragers, builders to botanists, engineers to entertainers. Or simply those who seek adventure or escape.”
The big budget series, originally had the working title Eden but that has been changed to Year Zero.
The 20 men and women will be filmed round the clock as they strive to achieve self-sufficiency, hunting/fishing for food as well as basic horticulture.
They will have to build places to shelter, in the face of the elements.
They will settle an area around the dunes and beach at Cul na Croise and the nearby woodland.
A close boarded fence almost six feet high was erected to protect the site, but if it is keeping out the public a temporary suspension of access rights will be needed.
A Scottish Government spokesman said Highland Council had applied for one, but this had prompted a number of queries. "Scottish Ministers have therefore not yet made a decision,” he said.
This and other environmental issues have been the subject of some local criticism, not least the impact on local wildlife, recreation and tourism. But others see the commercial potential of having film crews based locally for a year.
However the promotion of the series as being set in a remote wilderness has raised a few eyebrows.
One local woman who didn’t want to be named said “There is a good track along to a car park and then then the road takes you to the village of Acharacle. It is perhaps a distance of three or four miles, easily walkable.”
Another man said “I don’t know what they are going to do if somebody tries to make a break for freedom and gets over to Acharacle for a drink; or if somebody tries to get into the site.”
Another woman said she not want to be quoted as “It is a bit controversial here. Some are for it some are against it.”
Dr Michael Foxley, the former leader of the Highland Council who for many year was the local councillor for Ardnamurchan said he had known the area well from his youth. “The sands are very popular picnic area for the village of Acharacle which is not very far away. In Acharacle there is a primary school, a GP surgery, a garage, a shop, bakery, hotel and bar, teashop and other tourism businesses. So the idea that somehow they are going to be in a wilderness far removed from civilisation, is absolutely absurd. The township of Arrivegaig is even closer. I just hope the community gets something out of it all,” he said.
The Herald asked KEO Films about the portrayal of the location as remote wilderness.
A spokeswoman responded: “Filming on the programme is yet to commence.
“Channel 4 has confirmed the commission of an epic new series from KEO Films. Beginning in 2016 the series will follow the experience of more than 20 highly skilled Brits as they face building a new life - creating their own shelter, society and rules. For one year this community will hunt, sleep and live together, cut off from the rest of the world.
She said the series would challenge "everything about modern living."
It follows in the footsteps of Castaway 2000, which was filmed on the island of Taransay off Harris. Over 30 tried to build a community from their provided eco-pods. But their progress was marked by controversy much caught on film.
In 1975 journalist James Hogg spent two weeks on the uninhabited island Garbh Eilach, south of Oban, for BBC magazine programme Nationwide.
He was equipped only with a machete, some wire and an afternoon's training by the RAF. He had to build his own shelter and feed himself. By the end of the fortnight he was reported to be in very poor medical and psychological state.
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