The Crow Road is a four-part television miniseries by BBC Scotland in 1996, based faithfully on the 1992 novel of the same name by Scottish novelist Iain Banks. It was directed by Gavin Millar.
Summary
The cast includes Joseph McFadden as Prentice McHoan, Bill Paterson as his father, Dougray Scott as his older brother (another, younger brother in the novel has been written out here) and Peter Capaldi as his missing uncle Rory, who via a narrative device employed in the adaptation, visits the thoughtful Prentice when he is alone. The production was nominated as Best Drama Serial at the 1997 British Academy Television Awards. Following the success of this TV serial, the same team went on to adapt Banks's Complicity as a feature film.
Cast
Joseph McFadden as Prentice McHoan
Bill Paterson as Kenneth McHoan
Peter Capaldi as Rory McHoan
Valerie Edmond as Ashley Watt
Dougray Scott as Lewis McHoan
David Robb as Fergus Urvill
Elizabeth Sinclair as Mary McHoan
Gudrun Ure as Margot McHoan
Patricia Kerrigan as Janice
Simone Bendix as Verity Walker
Paul Young as Hamish McHoan
Stella Gonet as Fiona Urvill
Claire Nielson as Antonia McHoan
Edward Casey as Young Prentice McHoan
Critical reception
Reviewing the DVD box set in 2015, The Guardian wrote "the best TV adaptations capture the spirit of the original while adding something of their own – and The Crow Road, which first aired almost 20 years ago, is one of the finest adaptations of them all, managing to distil Bank’s complex tale into four hours of sharply evocative TV."