Sportscene

Sportscene is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland.

History

Sportscene's predecessor was Sportsreel,^[1] which was broadcast every Saturday at around 5pm (results and reports) and 10pm (highlights) in the 1960s. By the 1970s, a Sportscene format of a 5pm programme called Scoreboard, as a regional opt-out from Grandstand, plus a 10pm show with highlights from one English and one Scottish league or cup match, was established. Sportscene also covered European and international matches, which usually involved highlights but occasionally live coverage. The show was presented by Archie Macpherson with commentary by Macpherson, Alastair Alexander or Peter Thomson.

Shows

Sportscene set at BBC Scotland's Pacific Quay HQ.

There are a number of shows that come under the Sportscene brand.

• Sportscene is broadcast on Sunday nights on BBC One Scotland and is presented by Jonathan Sutherland. The show produces highlights of all the week's matches from the Scottish Premiership. Sutherland is joined by two studio guests (almost always Steven Thompson and Michael Stewart) who discuss the results. Guests have included Pat Nevin and Packie Bonner. Commentators include Rob Maclean, Liam McLeod, Paul Mitchell, John Barnes and Alasdair Lamont.
• Sportscene Results is broadcast on Saturday afternoons on BBC One Scotland. The show rounds up all of the day's main football scores, whilst debating the major Scottish football stories of the week. It sends reporters to every game in the Scottish Premiership, certain games in the Scottish Championship, as well as Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup games. BBC Scotland had historically produced some sort of Saturday teatime results round-up as an opt-out from Grandstand but in 1989 a new programme, Afternoon Sportscene, launched. It ran for the entire duration of the time allocated for the day's results, starting at some point between 1 and 5 minutes before the network aired English counterpart Final Score. At the start of the 2001/02 season the programme was renamed Sportscene Results to co-inside with the programme, and Final Score, becoming programmes in their own right. Sportscene Results is presented by David Currie previous presenters have included Bill McFarlen, Rob Maclean, Dougie Donnelly, Dougie Vipond and Stuart Cosgrove. The show gives football experts like Pat Nevin and Tony Higgins an opportunity to give their views on the days results and the past week of football.
• Sportscene Live is the name used for all live football matches broadcast by BBC Scotland. Coverage includes both Scottish cup competitions (the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup) and Scotland matches.
• All other football related programming is simply branded as Sportscene. This includes highlights packages and other one-off specials.

Previous shows

• Sportscene Rugby Special was the title of BBC Scotland's domestic rugby union programming when it held the rights to the Scottish leagues with the live matches & highlights broadcasting on BBC Two Scotland on Sunday teatimes starting on 30 October 1994 until the end of the 1996-97 season ^[2] also on Sunday lunchtimes for the 1997-98 season ^[3] for the 1998-99 season it was broadcast on Monday teatimes ^[4] and for the 1999-2000 season on Sunday nights moving to BBC One Scotland ^[5] before the 2000-01 season on Saturday nights after Sportscene: Match of the Day ^[6] although this didn't last long as BBC Scotland lost the broadcasting rights of the Scottish rugby at the end of 2000 to rival Scottish Television which launched Scotsport Rugby Round-Up on 14 January 2001, The last Sportscene Rugby Special programme was on 4 November 2000 (highlights) ^[7] and 18 November 2000 (live) ^[8]
• Friday Sportscene was the name of the football preview programme that went out on BBC One Scotland on Friday nights from 18 August 1989 ^[9] – 25 May 2001 ^[10] The programme's format was later moved to Saturday lunchtimes in place of Football Focus but has been absent from the schedules since BBC Scotland lost the live rights to the Scottish Premier League in 2004.

Presenters, commentators and reporters

Sportscene's main anchors are David Currie and Jonathan Sutherland. Previous Sportscene presenters include Rob MacLean, Alison Walker, Richard Gordon, Dougie Donnelly, Archie Macpherson, Gordon Hewitt, Hazel Irvine, Jill Douglas, Mark Souster and Jim Craig.

The programme's main commentary and reporting team consists of; lead commentator Liam McLeod, Paul Mitchell, John Barnes, Kheredine Idessane, Al Lamont, Jane Lewis and Chris McLaughlin.

Previous lead commentators have been Archie MacPherson (1969–1990), Jock Brown (1990–1997), Rob MacLean (1997–2004) and Paul Mitchell (2004–2010).

Reporters on Sportscene Results have included Jonathan Sutherland, Chris McLaughlin, Brian McLauchlin, Connie McLauchlin, Tam McManus, Kenny Crawford, Scott Davie, Martin Dowden, Jim Spence, Charlie Mann and Sandra Brown.

Online

Sportscene's opening credits

Sportscene has begun simulcasting certain live matches via both the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport Mobile app. The UEFA Cup tie between Molde and Rangers was one of the first to feature online. Most programmes now feature on the BBC iPlayer service, depending on rights restrictions.

In popular culture

The programme is regularly parodied in the Scottish football impressionist show Only an Excuse?. Munchtime Sportscene is a name often used by the programme's makers, presumably a play on the currently rested Lunchtime Sportscene programme.

See also

• Sportsound
• Scotsport
• BBC Scotland
• BBC Sport

References

External links

• Sportscene at BBC Online
• Sportscene on IMDb