Forbes Masson

Jack Docherty brings together a jam-packed cast of comedians, actors and famous faces for a riotous celebration of Scotland's most valuable export – its sense of humour. Scotland is a small nation with a big funny bone. It's known the world over for self-deprecation, quick-witted patter and deadpan asides. But what makes it so funny? To find out the answer, this programme delves deep into the BBC Scotland archives to find a century’s worth of classic characters, catchphrases and comedy clips.

A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.

Double-meanings, disguises and dirty laundry abound as Sir John Falstaff sets about improving his financial situation by wooing Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. But the ‘Merry Wives’ quickly cotton on to his tricks and decide to have a bit of fun of their own at Falstaff’s expense… The Merry Wives of Windsor is the only comedy that Shakespeare set in his native land. Drawing influences from British 1930s fashion, music and dance, the production will celebrate women, the power and beauty of nature, and with its witty mix of verbal and physical humour, it rejoices in a tradition that reaches right down to the contemporary English sitcom. The Windsor Locals appear courtesy of Soldiers’ Arts Academy, London Bubble and Clean Break.

As You Like It, Shakespeare's famous pastoral comedy of love and disguise, is reimagined here with darker, more sombre undertones. Performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Comedy following the lives of five people as they prepare to vie for the 2009 Cup O'Kindness, the trophy awarded to the champion in Robert Burns poetry recital. The film captures the ups and downs of each participant's progress as the pressure intensifies, the poems are recited and the champion is crowned. Held in Alloway, the birthplace of Burns himself, this prestigious competition is the centrepiece of the annual celebrations devoted to the Bard's immortal memory. And this year it may prove memorable for all the wrong reasons.