A Bit of an Epic

A company retreat led by the famous Colonel Don Maxwell heads up the steep hillsides above Lochdubh, and Hamish tags along suspecting trouble before the boots are even laced. He is right to. The party reaches its goal, Hamish advises caution, and Maxwell urges everyone on into a situation that turns properly dangerous. The retreat is meant to be a simple outing for a group of city types, which is already a hostage to fortune before you add a famous guide with a point to prove.

The episode is a slow burn of bad decisions. But Maxwell has the confidence of a man who has never been contradicted, and James Faulkner plays him with the right blend of charm and recklessness. Every step past the summit is a small victory for Maxwell and a small defeat for common sense. Robert Carlyle's Hamish is the voice of reason nobody is quite willing to hear, and the mountains do the rest.

Back in the village, Alex returns to Lochdubh to find that tragedy may have ended her hopes where Hamish is concerned, a quiet counterweight to the mountain drama. The two stories, one on the hill and one at home, pull at Hamish from opposite directions. Julian Spilsbury wrote the script, Sid Roberson directed, and the episode went out in April 1995. Shirley Henderson appears as Isobel Sutherland, Robert Willox as Walker, Iain Lauchlan as Jimmy McCormack, Jake D'Arcy as Scott and Philip McGough as George Standish. The regulars are out in force: Ralph Riach's TV John, Brian Pettifer as Rory Campbell, Stuart McGugan as Barney Meldrum.

The title earns its keep. What starts as a ramble becomes an ordeal, and the emotional fallout keeps coming after the climbing is done. It is the rare adventure story in which the main antagonist is somebody's pride, and the hills are quite enough without any monsters. It aired in April 1995, closing the first series, and it sends the run out on a high, cold note.