The BBC Sunday tea time classic serial has been away a long time; in case anyone was feeling nostalgic this is a typical example of the amateurish, patronising fare considered appropriate for the slot. This is a far from faithful adaptation; which would be acceptable if the changes had been effective in replicating the excitement of the book in another medium. Unfortunately this was very, very dull. Precious little of the tension of the novel survives, but there is a lot of running around. The expanded role given to the cabin boy does nothing to advance the plot, and the young actor playing him is rather irritating. In another major plot change Catriona, the eponymous heroine of the sequel, appears a book early as the feisty daughter of the noble James of the Glens (rather than of the villainous James More MacGregor). On the plus side, Iain Glenn makes quite a decent Alan Breck, and New Zealand puts in a perfectly adequate performance as Scotland.