Scotland At The Movies

20 March 2009, 16:04

Gregory's Girl is a 1981 coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and - like many of his movies - set in his native Scotland. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronhill district of Cumbernauld. It stars John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan among others.

What’s it all about?

Gregory is a typical 1980's teenager - shy around girls, clumsy to the point of embarrassment, growing faster than his mind or his clothes are happy with, and above all desperate to fall in love. His close friends are all the same and have varying degrees of success with the opposite sex.

Then along comes Dorothy, who is everything he always dreamed of - beautiful, happy, charming, and a better soccer player than all of the school team combined. She soon wins a place in the Soccer team - who now start to win, shock horror - and ultimately, after many aborted attempts and deep soul-searching with his younger sister Madeleine, asks her on a date.

To his surprise, she accepts. Gregory is overjoyed, and arrives early, at the agreed meeting place, only to find.... no Dorothy. What’s happened? You’ll just have to watch it to find out...

Cast

John Gordon Sinclair - Gregory
Dee Hepburn - Dorothy
Jake D'Arcy - Phil Menzies
Clare Grogan - Susan
Robert Buchanan - Andy
Billy Greenlees - Steve (as William Greenlees)
Allan Love - Eric
Caroline Guthrie - Carol
Carol Macartney - Margo
Douglas Sannachan - Billy
Allison Forster - Madeline
Chic Murray - Headmaster
Alex Norton - Alec

Trivia

Gregory's Girl was ranked 30th in the British Film Institute's list of the top 100 British films and 29th on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 best high school movies.

Grogan's role helped promote her music career, as she was in the band Altered Images at the time of film's release.

When's it on?

Gregory's Girl is on STV on March 29.

Last updated: 05 June 2009, 16:35