TV & Media

Western Isles Cruises has done a number of private hires for TV production and this year we took part in the making of Series 5, Episode 5 of SAS Who Dares Wins 2020.

It was great fun and something a bit different from our normal ferry service, and we can tell you first hand it is as brutal on the contestants as it looks on TV.

We picked-up both teams from a beach on the Isle or Raasay, hid them from the hunter force, gave them their instructions and dropped them off for the next part of their mission.

On the 14 January 2014 Western Isles Cruises featured in the Bisto Together Project.

Reuniting Amy from Philadelphia to visit her sister Isabel over 3,200 miles to the remote village of Inverie on the Knoydart Peninsular.

The MV Western Isles made the final leg of the journey possible, transporting Amy from Mallaig to Inverie in Loch Nevis.

We also had some fun with sheep running round the deck of the boat.

“Just getting here can be something of an ordeal,” says Paul Murton, “no roads in or out.” He’s talking about Lochaber and, to be honest, long may it stay that way. This part of the north-west Highlands, including the Knoydart Peninsula, Lochs Nevis and Hourn (“heaven” and “hell” in Gaelic) and Loch Arkaig, has been popular for clandestine military operations for centuries – from Bonnie Prince Charlie to the SOE during the Second World War. But the stunning views of mountain, moor and water succeed in stopping Murton in his tracks: “I’ve found paradise,” he grins. Some of the locals might agree: one smallholder even grows figs and apricots in her polytunnel. It’s just glorious.

Paul Murton travels into the secret heart of the Rough Bounds of Knoydart, by way of Loch nan Umbh, Loch Morar, Loch Nevis and Loch Arkaig. He lifts the lid on the area’s secret connection with the celebrated SOE (Special Operations Executive), which Churchill hoped would ‘set Europe ablaze’.

What would you do for a pint? Would you hike 18 miles through the Scottish Highlands? Sail whale-infested waters? Battle Orcs and forge through the Mines of Moria into the fires of Mordor? (Maybe not that last one.)

We sent two of our producers on a quest to find Britain’s most remote pub, The Old Forge in Knoydart, Scotland. With no roads in or out, one does not simply walk to The Old Forge.

It took our stalwart producers a few tries to finally reach the tavern’s doors—three by land, one by sea—but the journey there certainly worked up a thirst. Cheers!