{"id":24059,"date":"2025-10-30T11:21:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T11:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:23:15","slug":"bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Scotland Commissions Two Titles from Friel Kean Films"},"content":{"rendered":"

BBC Scotland has commissioned Hercules the Bear\u2014A Love Story<\/em> and a second season of Inside Barlinnie<\/em> from Friel Kean Films.<\/p>\n

The feature-length documentary Hercules the Bear\u2014A Love Story<\/em> tells the true story of Hercules, a grizzly bear who was adopted at nine months old in 1975 by Scottish wrestler Andy Robin and his wife. They raised him as part of their family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of human in Herc and a lot of bear in Andy,\u201d said Maggie Robin. \u201cIf Andy was a bear, he\u2019d be Herc, and if Herc was a human, he\u2019d be Andy. They were best pals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Executive producer and director Michelle Friel commented, \u201cThe story of Hercules is, in essence, a love story between Andy and Maggie and the bear that they made part of their family. It is such a heartwarming story, and we hope that audiences will fall in love with Hercules all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second season of Inside Barlinnie<\/em> will continue to shine a light on life inside Scotland\u2019s most notorious prison. It will go even deeper into the lives of the prisoners and their families, exploring the emotional and practical impact of incarceration.<\/p>\n

Executive producer Michelle Friel says, \u201cIt is a privilege to be working so closely with the staff and inmates inside HMP Barlinnie, and there are extraordinary stories to follow that shine a light on so much in the fabric of our society,\u201d Friel, also an executive producer on this project, said. \u201cWe are so pleased to be able to share their story and work at the cutting edge of documentary making with the recommission of Inside Barlinnie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both projects were commissioned by David Harron for BBC Scotland and iPlayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese latest documentaries from Friel Kean Films again highlight the range and depth of storytelling that they bring to our audiences,\u201d Harron said. \u201cHercules the Bear\u2014A Love Story<\/em> is a beautiful film that will connect emotionally with viewers of all ages. And Outside Barlinnie<\/em> will again have the remarkable access to the lives of prisoners and staff which was the hallmark of the previous series.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC Scotland has commissioned Hercules the Bear\u2014A Love Story and a second season of Inside Barlinnie from Friel Kean Films.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":24060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[714,11822,11823,11824],"class_list":["post-24059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-bbc-scotland","tag-friel-kean-films","tag-hercules-the-bear-a-love-story","tag-inside-barlinnie","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nBBC Scotland Commissions Two Titles from Friel Kean Films - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BBC Scotland Commissions Two Titles from Friel Kean Films - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BBC Scotland has commissioned Hercules the Bear\u2014A Love Story and a second season of Inside Barlinnie from Friel Kean Films.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-30T15:21:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-30T15:23:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/10\/BBCScotland-Logo-1025.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/\",\"name\":\"BBC Scotland Commissions Two Titles from Friel Kean Films - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-30T15:21:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-30T15:23:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-scotland-commissions-two-titles-from-friel-kean-films\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BBC Scotland Commissions Two Titles from Friel Kean Films\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\",\"name\":\"Jamie Stalcup\",\"description\":\"Jamie Stalcup is the executive editor of World Screen. 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