Watched Stephen Frears' The Queen last night and noticed that there were a couple of ghillies in the credits. A ghillie, or gillie, is 'a professional fishing and hunting guide' according to A-H. From Scottish Gaelic gille 'boy, servant' from Old Irish gilla from gildae which is cognate with German Geisel 'hostage' (cf Dr Seuss' real name Theodore Geisel. (There was also a fifth century British author named Gildas; perhaps it's related.
You would--it ran for six or seven years, and the series ended in the UK last year or the year before, I think, but various PBS stations have run it in this country. We had never heard of it, but when we were in Scotland in 2001, we were visiting Newtonmore, and two people in our party got all excited because they recognized some of the local buildings as locations for Monarch. Turns out the main location, "Glenbogle," is actually a few miles down the road from Newtonmore, an old manor house called Ardverikie, near a town called Laggan.
We were curious, so we went home and searched for the show and found the PBS station in Allentown was carrying it, so watched it faithfully for several years, until they showed the final show of the final season. Hopefully, they'll have reruns in your area.
Wordmatic
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
I looked at Monarch of the Glen on IMDB and Amazon... I think I would just love it. Thanks, WM!!
We've watched the entire run of the show fairly recently, and quite enjoyed it. I would describe it as a sort of "Northern Exposure" set in Scotland. Delightfully fun characters, etc. The last season or two fall off a bit in the plots, I think, but I still had to watch them all to know what happened to the people.
I would love to visit that area someday. It's really gorgeous. I wonder if that same valley is the location that has been used in the most recent Harry Potter movies - does anyone know? It looks similar to me.
I also wonder if "gilly weed" in HP is thus named because of the job of Ghillies.
******* "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. ~Dalai Lama
Originally posted by Richard English: I believe the Harry Potter series was filmed in New Zealand - just about as far from Scotland as it is possible to get!
Richard is thnking of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
EDIT: Here's a map and some pictures of locations used in the HP films. They are all in England; none is in Scotland.This message has been edited. Last edited by: arnie,
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I think it's an incomplete list, Arnie. this map includes Durham Cathedral, which is also a location in HP, which we toured when visiting friends there. And then there's Glenfinnan, home of the Glenfinnan Viaduct (scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page), which the Hogwarts Express speeds over for a few seconds in the second film--and I think Ron Weasley's car does a couple of loops around it too. So that's in Scotland. But all of the Hobbit and battle and wasteland type locations are in New Zealand. Our friends told of the disconnect they get watching the movies where, within the same scene, the actual location will shift from North Island to South Island, and they couldn't get into the story because they kept recognizing the view.
Wordmatic
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Yes, the map seems to be a little dated - covering only the first film, it seems. I recognize that viaduct, too, WM, from when Harry and Ron are flying the car.
Thanks, though, for setting me straight on the locations.
WM, I like how you switch from movie to movie in your last paragraph. Of course the hobbits, etc, are all in LOTR.
******* "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. ~Dalai Lama
