You wonder what went through Alex Salmond’s mind when a producer from Firecrest Films called to ask him to participate in a documentary called “Salmond and Sturgeon - a Troubled Union” for the BBC.
The Alba party leader now regrets taking part in the film which, he apparently believed, would focus on subject matter entirely different from that suggested by its title, and which he now characterises as part of an ongoing, nefarious plot by the unionist broadcaster to undermine his nationalist cause.
"Instead of a serious analysis about how a fringe party rose to challenge and almost break the British state, they present it as a psychodrama between myself and Nicola Sturgeon,” he fulminated.
If the name alone didn’t give the game away about the nature of the project, then a quick Google search of the Glasgow-based production company’s website might have provided some additional clues.
“Liar – the fake grooming scandal”; “Three mothers, two babies and a scandal”; and “Inside the cage: the rise of female fighters” are just some of the titles on the roster of Firecrest Films.
Read more by Carlos Alba
This is not a company renowned for its serious-minded treatments of political record. Chin-stroking analyses of ideological movements and historical trends are not its thing.
The most revealing thing to come out of this episode is the way in which politicians use such documentaries as opportunities to rewrite history in a light that is most favourable to themselves.
Even after filming had ended, and before the programme had been screened, participants were falling over themselves to grab the limelight, to assert that the part they played in........