A 60th birthday celebration for one of our greatest homebased musicians, Aly Bain: True North takes the latter half of its title from a contribution to the programme by one of Aly's many pals. According to author William McIlvanney, Aly unwittingly serves a useful geographical function to all his friends. Because wherever in the world he goes with his Shetland fiddle, he always comes back unchanged, William feels, thereby acting as an unerring true north compass reading to guide and anchor his chums.
First minister Jack McConnell is another prominent Scot who pays Aly tribute, lauding him as "a Scottish national icon, " not least because Aly and his perennial sidekick, Phil Cunningham, have achieved state ceremonial standing. The duo played at the opening of Holyrood as well as at the funerals of Donald Dewar and Robin Cook.
Little else is truly funereal about Aly - although his brother and sister attest to some sadness in Aly's early Shetland home-life. Douglas and Anne grew up to be psychologists, with Aly ruefully asserting that their careers arose because of his childhood behaviour. As a boy, he was an undiagnosed sufferer from attention-deficit disorder. One consequence of this was that he went to secondary school, unlike his grammar school siblings. The Bain family thus take a wry view of the fact that his musicanship has since led to four honorary doctorates.
Billy Connolly crops up to discuss Aly's brief period beside him in the Humblebums, while there are further musical reminiscences from his first stage partner, Mike Whellans, Capercaillie's Karen Matheson and, of course, the aforementioned Cunningham.
Another nice touch is that the narrator has an authentic Shetland voice - that of young actor Steven Robertson, whose burgeoning Hollywood film career means he more often has to suppress his natural sound - unlike Aly, of course. Happy birthday, old boy. Aly Bain: True North, BBC2, tomorrow, 9pm.
This two-part factual drama about the infamous Moors Murderers, child killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, and how they were brought to justice, is based on two years of intensive research, including interviews with retired detectives, relatives of the murdered children and David Smith, Myra Hindley's brother-in-law, who was a key witness at the trial.
ITV states that the relatives of the children killed by Brady and Hindley were fully consulted to ensure their stories are accurately portrayed, adding: "As far as the families are concerned, they never want their children to be forgotten and they feel that now is the time for a film drama recording of these events to be made." Maxine Peake plays Hindley, while Sean Harris takes the role of Brady.
See no Evil: The Moors Murders, ITV1. Tomorrow, 9.30pm; Monday, 9pm.
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