SCOTLAND is being underrepresented in an official history of the BBC, according to a former employee of the corporation.

Only four out of 100 objects chosen to represent the history of the BBC as it marks its 100th birthday this year were linked in some way to Scotland and only one related directly to Scottish programming. 

A former BBC employee expressed his outrage that Scotland was "forgotten" from the official history of the corporation.

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Featured in the BBC 100 was The Reverend I M Jolly’s Chair, on which Rikki Fulton played the miserable minister in Scotch & Wry. 

Also included were the Stonehaven-born John Reith’s job application that landed him the job of the corporation’s first director-general.

John Logie Baird, the Scottish inventor who created the first live working television in 1926, had his Baird Televisor included in the list. 

A more tenuous connection was the inclusion of the score for Puppet on a String - Sandie Shaw’s winning Eurovision song from 1967. It was written by a Scot, Bill Martin and Northern Irishman Phil Coulter. 

The former BBC worker, who wished to remain anonymous, contacted the National to raise concerns that just 4% of the objects were Scottish compared to the 8% of the UK population made up by Scots. 

He said: “We’re underrepresented, as you would expect. 

“They don’t care about Scotland and I always look out for examples. 

“There were a million other things they could have plucked out. 

“You could have things from the production of Sunset Song from the seventies which was great. 

“Or programmes like This Man Craig, more contemporary stuff as well - Shetland for example, Chewing the Fat, Still Game, all of these things are really good pieces of work. 

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“Shellsuit Bob’s shellsuit would have been perfect.

“There is a whole ecosystem of Scottish broadcasting which has been forgotten.

"I don't think they even take the energy to write us out of history, they just forget we're there.”

Our source said the exclusion of Scottish objects was indicative of a London-centric attitude at the BBC.

He said: “It’s the attitude in London of the BBC, they look down their noses at you. 

“They think Salford is quite far north.”

Other objects included in the BBC’s history in 100 objects were a costume from the hit medical drama Casualty, and Captain Tom’s walker which he used to raise money for the NHS during lockdown.

The National:

The proposal letter for Desert Island Discs and veteran reporter John Simpson’s flak jacket from 2003 while he covered the Iraq war were also included in the list. 

Representing Wales and Northern Ireland were a script for the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’s broadcast of Under Milk Wood and an animation of Radio Foyle presenter Gerry Anderson.

Some objects came from the Science Museum Group collection, made up of five English museums. 

Exhibitions are planned to tour museums in London, Manchester and Bradford later this year to celebrate the corporation's 100th birthday. 

A BBC spokesperson said: "The 100 Objects collection, which will be added to throughout the year, is just one aspect of the centenary celebrations and BBC Scotland will play its part throughout.”