The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179-seat majority.
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream and popular BBC One.
Scottish Television is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the second-oldest franchise holder in the UK that is still active.
Malcolm George Richardson Chisholm is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Health and Community Care from 2001 to 2004 and Minister for Communities from 2004 to 2006. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh North and Leith, formerly Edinburgh Leith, from 1992 to 2001 and Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the equivalent seat and its successor from 1999 to 2016.
Kirsteen Anne "Kirsty" Wark FRSE is a Scottish television presenter with a long career at the BBC.
Kenneth McKerrow Logan is a retired Scottish rugby union player who played wing for Stirling County RFC and Glasgow District at amateur level; Glasgow Warriors, Wasps RFC and London Scottish at professional level; and Scotland at international level. He won three English Premierships with Wasps RFC; and one Scottish Premiership title with Stirling County RFC in 1995, just before the game turned professional.
BBC Reporting Scotland is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Pacific Quay, Glasgow.
The BBC News at Six is the BBC's evening news programme on British television channels BBC One and BBC News, broadcast weeknights at 6:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30 minutes, except on bank holidays when it may be shorter and only shown on BBC One. For a long period, the BBC News at Six was the most watched news programme in the UK but since 2006 it has been overtaken by the BBC News at Ten. On average it is watched by four million viewers.
The BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year was an annual sport award in Scotland. It was organised by BBC Scotland.
Anne Erica Isobel Mackenzie is a former BBC political and current affairs presenter. Mackenzie worked as a newscaster between 1981 and 1997. She started her career with Grampian TV, in Aberdeen, before joining BBC Scotland in 1995. She became a political and current affairs presenter in 1998, anchoring several BBC network programmes. Mackenzie was also part of the Newsnight Scotland team, with BBC Scotland, from its launch in October 1999 to July 2007. She could also be heard fronting factual programmes for BBC Radio 4 in London.
David Hayman is a Scottish film, television and stage actor and director. His acting credits include Sid and Nancy (1986), Hope and Glory (1987), Rob Roy (1995), The Jackal (1997), Trial & Retribution (1997-2009), Legionnaire (1998), Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000), Vertical Limit (2000), The Tailor of Panama (2001), Flood (2007, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Paradise, Taboo, Our Ladies, The Nest, Bull, and Andor .
Jacqueline Bird is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster, best known as a former anchor of the BBC Scotland's national news programme Reporting Scotland until April 2019. Since 2022, she has been serving as the president of the National Trust for Scotland.
BBC Radio Shetland is an local opt-out service of BBC Radio Scotland, covering the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The station's studio is located in Pitt Lane, Lerwick.
Sportscene is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland.
Brian Morton is a Scottish writer, journalist and former broadcaster, specialising in jazz and modern literature.
Dè a-nis? is a Scottish Gaelic-language children's program produced by BBC Gàidhlig. It is broadcast on BBC Alba on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm. "Dè a-nis" is Gaelic for "What Now?"
Anthony Robert McMillan, known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series. He was appointed an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. In 1990, Coltrane received the Evening Standard British Film Award – Peter Sellers Award for Comedy. In 2011, he was honoured for his "outstanding contribution" to film at the British Academy Scotland Awards.
The Celtic Media Festival, formerly known as the Celtic Film and Television Festival, aims to promote the languages and cultures of the Celtic nations in film, on television, radio and new media. The festival is an annual three-day celebration of broadcasting and film from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Isle of Man, Galicia, Cornwall and Brittany. The festival was founded in 1980.
Michael Crow is a former Scottish political journalist who worked as Director of Strategy and Communications at the Scottish Conservative Party from 2009 until 2010. Following the 2010 UK General Election in which the Scottish Conservatives won only one seat, Crow's post was terminated due to 'financial constraints'.
A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1997 and all 72 seats in Scotland were contested. This would be the last UK general election to be contested in Scotland before the Scottish Parliament was established on 1 July 1999 following overwhelming public approval in a referendum.
