Scotland from the Sky

In the first episode of this landmark BBC Scotland series, presenter James Crawford discovers how the magical combination of powered flight and photography sparked a revolution that changed how we understood our world. Beginning with the story of aerial photography itself, James takes to the air to discover forgotten factories, abandoned villages and secret military installations. From the first pictures taken from World War One biplanes, to modern-day drones and helicopters, this is the story of how Scotlands countryside, communities and cities dramatically transformed in just 100 years.

The last episode of the landmark series, Scotland from the Sky, explores how aerial photography has revealed Scotlands hidden ancient past and uncovered secrets buried right beneath our feet. From an Aberdeenshire field where the very concept of time emerged, through the ghostly outline of a lost ornamental garden to the discovery of hundreds of pizza ovens that once fed Romes mighty legions, presenter James Crawford reveals how our ancestors have written their story on Scotlands landscape.

In this edition, Jamie Crawford uses aerial images to discover how the Scots have lived off the land over the centuries.

In the first episode of a new series, presenter James Crawford explores how we have managed to surmount the challenges of our tough terrain to connect communities and places across the centuries. He takes to the air in a seaplane, landing in Loch Ness to reveal its geological secrets, uncovers traces of our Viking past, explores how we have crossed the treacherous Pentland Firth and flies above the stunning West Highland line. Finally, he visits the Highland crofters, going where no crofter has gone before at Scotlands first spaceport.

Presenter James Crawford takes to the air to uncover some remarkable forgotten histories, travelling back in time to our ancient past. He begins his journey with Scotlands lost canal just outside Glasgow, and then travels back to the heyday of airship travel, the abandoned island of Mingulay, and the dark history of Inchkeith Island in the Firth of Forth. He ends on the Isle of Lewis where archaeologists have recently discovered what might be a lost stone circle.