The Flying Scotsman (Graeme Obree)

The Flying Scotsman is one of those lovely feel good Scottish movies, think Local Hero, Gregory's Girl and Comfort and Joy to name but three.

The film stars Jonny Lee Miller as Obree, Laura Fraser, Billy Boyd and that wonderful actor Brian Cox.

The film was shot on location in the UK with Galston most prominent throughout the film, Glasgow and Germany was also used. There is one scene filmed in Galston where the rain is pouring down, I'm sure the production team didn't need hoses to simulate the weather!

Obree was born in Nuneaton in England in 1965 but has lived most of his life in Scotland and has considered himself Scottish.

The film takes you from his childhood when he was bullied by older boys, fighting his depression caused by Bipolar Disorder, how he came to build his bike "Old Faithful" using washing machine parts and how he broke world records through hard work. The story also shows how behind the scenes the Union Cyclist Internationale was meeting to ban his bike and even his riding position, resulting in Obree receiving three red flags in one race which resulted in disqualification.

Obree fought back and introduced a new position, superman as he called it and with Old Faithful won the individual pursuit at the world championships in 1995.

Major Wins = World Hour Record 1993 (51.596km)

1994 (52.713km)

World Champion = 1993 and 1995 (4000m pursuit)

Medal Record = Gold 1993 Hamar (4000m pursuit)

Gold 1995 Bogota (4000m pursuit)

Truly a remarkable young man who deserves all the recognition that comes his way.

East Ayrshire backed this film with £5.000 initially. In 2002 an American backer died, and left the film in total collapse. E A C was approached again and they did not see any benefit to increase their initial funding as this area would not gain out of the film, so no more help was available. It was a few years later that the eleven million pounds was secured, so that filming could begin.

BBC 2 showed this film in the graveyard slot on Tuesday 30th March at 11.30pm and yet broadcast absolute rubbish at peak times!