Dundee has appeared several times in the movies albeit mostly as another country. Only in the BBC television series Jute City shown in 1991 has the city taken a starring role as itself.
Jute City has a fairly impressive line up for a BBC Scotland gangster series. Music by David Stewart of Eurythmics fame, directed by Stewart Orme, and an mini who's who of Scottish film talent. Sadly it has disappeared without a trace taking with it Dundee's only recent appearance as itself in the world of movies and television.
Director: Stuart Orme
Starring: Peter Mullan, Douglas Henshall, Billy Riddoch, David O'Hara, Joanna Roth, Fish, Clive Russell, John McGlynn, John Sessions, Jenny McCrindle, Ion Caramitru, Billy McColl, Billy McElhaney, Lynn Ferguson
ref. scotlandthemovie.com
JUTE CITY PART 1
Mystery thriller set in Dundee. Black sheep Duncan Kerr (David O’Hara) returns to his home town of Dundee for his younger brother Sammy’s (Douglas Henshall) wedding. Sammy is now a Freemason, and a successful entrepreneur with an expanding business empire and a beautiful wife-to-be, Caroline (Joanne Roth). However, he is murdered on the eve of his wedding, and his brother is determined to find out what has happened and why. At the same time, an MP and a Friends of the Earth Activist are kidnapped and murdered in the Highlands, witnessed by a Romanian fisherman. Conspiracy, intrigue and violence begin to unfurl.
JUTE CITY PART 2
Duncan Kerr is back in prison, but still wants to find out about who killed his brother Sammy, and he soon discovers there are people who would do anything to stop him finding out what Sammy was up to. The computer disks he discarded in a skip when he was being pursued by the police have gone. McMurdo (John Sessions) finds himself being strangled nearly to death in his apartment, and it is discovered that Sammy had been having an affair, and it was his girlfriend who accidentally backed into him with the car after they had argued, knocking him over the dockside.
JUTE CITY PART 3
Mystery thriller set in Dundee. Duncan finds out his brother was accidentally killed, not murdered, by his mistress, but he and Caroline have uncovered too much detail about Sammy's shady dealings to stop investigating, especially since the computer discs name a Lord Murcross and detail illegal shipments. Duncan , Caroline, Gabby (Jenny McCrindle)and McMurdo travel to Ullapool in the Highlands on the trail, where Gregory shows them where the bodies are buried, and they discover the illegal shipments are of toxic chemicals.
ref. bfi.org
Further information:
imdb info.
The Perception of Fish - official Fish website
The Company Belgium - a Fish fanclub
Gareth McLean - The Shows that Time Forgot - August 2008