THE DREAM TEAM
Dolly Parton’s appearance in my life was yet another highlight and along with Jools Holland we would form a very creative partnership.
It all began when BBC Two decided to celebrate Country Music with a three-hour continuous broadcast called Country Night, to be shown at peak viewing time on BBC 2.
Two of the three hours would be live broadcasts; one presented by Dolly Parton from Nashville; the other presented by Jools Holland from London. The third would be a specially commissioned film, for which they would cast their net far and wide for ideas, both within and without the BBC.
So, I’d become aware of an unusual friendship betweenDougie Maclean – now O.B.E. and the two times grammy award winner, American singer–songwriter, Kathy Mattea.
I thought that this was a very appealing human interest story, so I wrote my proposal and called it SongRoads – A Musical Friendship and sent it to Avril MacRory, Head of TelevisionMusic Programmes at the BBC and waited and waited.
Eventually, Avril phoned to say that the BBC had selected my idea and would like to commission me to make ‘SongRoads’from my own proposal.
The dream team of Dolly Parton, Mark Littlewood and Jools Holland all contributed to a very successful three-hourbroadcast of Country Music on BBC2.
BBC Country Night – Photograph: Back; Mark Cooper(Controller of BBC2); Middle; L – R: Jools Holland; Dougie Maclean OBE; Front: L – R; Kathy Mattea; Avril MacRory(commissioning Editor); Mark Littlewood(Producer/Director).
To read my successful proposal and many other brilliant stories that feature in my book see:
‘Shaping the Shadows: A Picture Maker’s Story’. There’s a special offer on now £10 from the National Library of Scotland:
https://shop.nls.uk/shaping-the-shadows-2798-p.asp
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