Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Isles

In the autumn of 1773, the English writer Samuel Johnson visits the Hebrides, or Western Isles, off the North-West coast of Scotland. With him are his friend, the Scotsman James Boswell, and his black servant Francis Barber. Staying with a series of hosts, including elderly Jacobite heroine Flora McDonald, Johnson and Boswell encounter traditional Scottish hospitality at first-hand, all the time arguing about politics (and in Boswell's case losing his head over every pretty woman he meets). Meanwhile, Francis and another black servant they encounter provide evidence of the new consciousness emerging in Britain's soon-to-be-independent American colonies.

Cast

Robbie Coltrane Dr Samuel Johnson John Sessions James Boswell Celia Imrie Lady MacDonald

Ruth McGhie Flora McDonald

Penelope McGhie Miss Campbell

Nicola Esson Elizabeth McQuarrie

Mark Anstee Captain MacLeod Alan David Sir Aeneas MacPherson Ian Dury Dr Reid Tony Halfpenny Coll

Donald MacNeill McLeod of Raasay

Carol MacReady Lady MacPherson

Metadata from the source database.