The Scheme (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Scheme is a BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
BAFTA-award winning documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
series which follows the lives of six families on the Onthank and Knockinlaw housing schemes
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
in Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock is a large burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland, with a population of 44,734. It is the second largest town in Ayrshire. The River Irvine runs through its eastern section, and the Kilmarnock Water passes through it, giving rise to the name 'Bank Street'...
. The series has been the subject of media criticism, with the series being labelled as "poverty porn" and described as giving a "misleading impression" of life on the estate.
The programme makers have denied allegations that their series exploits the residents of the estate.
Episodes
Initially four episodes were made, but only the first two episodes were aired during the intended broadcast schedule. Episodes 3 and 4 were originally postponed due to a court case involving a participant in the series. Since broadcast of these episodes could have potentially influenced a jury, BBC ScotlandBBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
had no choice but to postpone transmission of the episodes The series made a return in full from episode one on 16 May 2011. All episodes have been repeated to the rest of the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
from Tuesday 14 June 2011 to Tuesday 12th July 2011. A fifth episode was also broadcast in this run, this episode was filmed a year after the other episodes and caught up with some of the people featured in the first four episodes.
Episode One
The first episode introduced viewers to the Cunningham family: father Gordon and mother Annie, 15 year old daughter Kimberley, and sons Chris and Brian. Also featured were "recovering" drug addict Marvin, aka 'starvin marvin' his girlfriend Dayna (on early release from prison with an electronic tag and responsible for the classic line "He's got tae choose, it's me or the blues") and his dog Bullet. Also featuring in the first episode were single mother Kay, and her daughters Candice (15) and Kendal (5). Kay also provides accommodation to the homeless 17 year old Jenna and Gary, who is battling a drink addiction.Among events in Episode 1: Gordon and Annie's son Brian ends up in prison after a breach of the peace charge; their youngest son Chris ends up in trouble with drug dealers; Gary is evicted from Kay's house; Marvin suffers an overdose and later is arrested for the weekend after a bust-up with a pregnant Dayna.
Episode Two
In the second episode, Gordon tries to get a job; Marvin's cousin moves in next door provoking a violent confrontation with Dayna; Kay gets arrested for assaulting a neighbour; Kimberley takes part in a dancing competition; and the Cree family make a first appearance. The Cree family have been involved in community initiatives for two generations, and opened the area's first community centre. They are now seeking to reopen it, and are raising money towards the reopening and running costs, but despite being offered a peppercorn rent, are struggling to raise the money to run it.Kay loses patience with her young tenants and throws them out, and Bullet the dog ends up being rehomed after a dispute over a vet's bill resulting from an accident when he runs away. Dayna also leaves abruptly.
Episodes Three and Four
At the end of the second programme, the following announcement was read out over the title sequence:"For legal reasons not connected with anyone who has appeared in the series to date, transmission of the final two episodes of The Scheme will now be subject to a delay. They'll be rescheduled for broadcast at a later date."
It was planned, following the resolution of the court case, that episodes three and four would air on 27 July and 3 August 2010 respectively. However, these episodes were postponed further due to a new court case.
A further indefinite delay was announced when one of the show's "stars" - Chris Cunningham - was charged with an armed mugging concerning an offence which allegedly took place in May 2010. These episodes were broadcast on 23 and 24 May 2011, with repeats of the first two episodes of the series being aired first the week before with a special update programme taking place on 30 May 2011.