Pretender Prince: Episode 1: The King of Birds
Limelight
BBC
4.4 • 604 Ratings
🗓️ 16 May 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jack Lowden presents a drama-documentary series on the rise and fall of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
In 1745 Charles arrives in Scotland – with an army of just seven men. He must find a way to persuade thousands of Highland clansmen to risk their lives to join him in his bid to restore the Catholic Stuarts as the ruling monarchy of Great Britain.
Written by Colin MacDonald with original music by Duncan Chisholm.
Narrator ..... Jack Lowden
Bonnie Prince Charlie ..... Lorn Macdonald Flora MacDonald ..... Hannah Donaldson Colonel John O’Sullivan ..... Gavin Mitchell Clan Chief MacDonald ..... Iain Macrae Donald Cameron ..... Sam James Smith Allan Cameron ..... Douglas Yannaghas
Written by Colin MacDonald
Music arranged by Duncan Chisholm Music performed by Duncan Chisholm, Ingrid Henderson, Martin O’Neill and Ross Ainslie. With contributions by historians, Jacqueline Riding, Alistair Moffat and Maggie Craig
Edited by Kris MacConachie Studio Managers Sean Mullervy and Kris MacConnachie Executive Producer Gordon Kennedy Broadcast Assistant Clare Hipkiss
Producer/Director Bruce Young
Recorded at BBC Scotland Drama Studios, Pacific Quay, Glasgow An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.6 | Hello and welcome to Limelight. |
| 0:06.7 | This is Pretender Prince from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:11.2 | Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts, |
| 0:14.4 | but if you're in the UK, you can listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:28.0 | Music on BBC Sounds. This is Pretender Prince, |
| 0:30.7 | the story of the rise and fall of Bonnie Prince Charlie |
| 0:33.5 | and the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. |
| 0:37.0 | It's written in five episodes by Colin MacDonald. |
| 0:40.3 | The narrator is Jack Loudon. |
| 0:42.3 | Episode 1, The King of Birds. |
| 0:45.3 | It's New Year's Eve, 1720. |
| 0:50.3 | We're in a palace in Rome. |
| 0:52.3 | Something momentous is happening, something that will change the history of Britain forever. |
| 0:58.0 | A woman is in labour. |
| 1:01.0 | Some will swear that they witness a shooting star in the heavens right now. |
| 1:05.0 | It's nonsense, of course. |
| 1:08.0 | But a minute later, a footman stands breathless in a gilded room in the Palazzo Muti. |
| 1:14.3 | Your Majesty! Your Majesty! |
| 1:17.2 | Years later, the boy just born would say his fate was written in the stars. |
| 1:22.3 | He should have looked closer. It would have stopped a lot of killing. |
| 1:25.4 | Sorry. What's running? |
... |
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