Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Isles (1993)

Plot Summary

In the autumn of 1773, the English writer Samuel Johnson visits the Hebrides, or Western Isles, off the North-West coast of Scotland. With him are his friend, the Scotsman James Boswell, and his black servant Francis Barber. Staying with a series of hosts, including elderly Jacobite heroine Flora McDonald, Johnson and Boswell encounter traditional Scottish hospitality at first-hand, all the time arguing about politics (and in Boswell's case losing his head over every pretty woman he meets). Meanwhile, Francis and another black servant they encounter provide evidence of the new consciousness emerging in Britain's soon-to-be-independent American colonies.

Full Cast & Characters

Robbie Coltrane

Dr Samuel Johnson

John Sessions

James Boswell

Celia Imrie

Lady MacDonald

Ruth McGhie

Flora McDonald

Penelope McGhie

Miss Campbell

Nicola Esson

Elizabeth McQuarrie

Mark Anstee

Captain MacLeod

Alan David

Sir Aeneas MacPherson

Ian Dury

Dr Reid

Tony Halfpenny

Coll

Donald MacNeill

McLeod of Raasay

Carol MacReady

Lady MacPherson

Director & Crew

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