Outlander Jamie Fraser actor Sam Heughan leads search for next generation of screen stars in Edinburgh schools

Calling all budding stars of the screen. Outlander star Sam Heughan is throwing his weight behind a move to add film and television to the curriculum of schools in Edinburgh and beyond.

Under a new scheme by Screen Scotland – which will pilot in the Capital as well as in Shetland, Inverness, Argyll and Bute and Dundee – pupils will be given the opportunity to study film and television production and create their own films.

Heughan, who fell in love with acting as a teenager in Edinburgh before finding fame playing Jamie Fraser in Outlander, said: “Film and screen storytelling is at the centre of developing a child's imagination, a way for communities to represent their identity and individuals to connect with others.

Outlander star Sam Heughan is throwing his weight behind a move to add film and television to the curriculum of schools in Edinburgh and beyond. Photo: Robert McFadzean/Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

“I wholly support a new curriculum that focuses on this art from, giving children and young adults a voice through film and screen.

“I look forward to seeing Scotland’s diverse and rich culture and heritage represented on screen by the next generation of filmmakers and storytellers.”

In June this year, Screen Scotland published a report which showed that the screen sector contributed £567.6million to the Scottish economy in 2019, providing 10,280 full time equivalent jobs.

The report also demonstrated the potential to double the economic value of the screen sector by 2030, if investment in local content, production skills and infrastructure continues.

David Smith, director of Screen Scotland, said: “Scotland’s production sector has seen significant growth since 2019.

“Our aim is to widen access to film and TV as a career and a passion for people across Scotland, to develop the next generation of filmmaking talent from Scotland, and to deepen understanding of the incredibly wide range of highly rewarding careers you can follow in the screen sector.

“We want the next generation of Scottish filmmakers to be the driving force behind our sectors growth, developing and producing the films and programmes watched globally.”

As reported in the Evening News, Heughan recently opened up about his family’s move to Edinburgh when he was a teenager – saying it was like a “like a whole new world for him”.

The much-loved actor moved from his native Dumfries and Galloway to the Scottish capital at the age of 12.

In his new memoir Waypoints, which recently topped the New York Times bestseller list, he talks about what it was like to be uprooted from a quiet community to a bustling city.

In a chapter titled ‘The Wake-Up Call’, Heughan reveals that his family moved to Edinburgh so his mother could enrol at Edinburgh College of Art.

He writes: “After years of living in a quiet community, my mother, my brother and I packed our belongings for what felt like a whole new world.

“Swapping the stable and the castle ruins for a suburban street in Edinburgh, we set about settling in for this new chapter in our lives.

“It was a big change, but also hugely exciting for two young lads like Cirdan and me. I had just finished at my little primary school, so I started high school at the same time as all my new classmates.

“It was a little overwhelming to begin with, but since I could now see without the dreaded glasses, I soon started to make friends and feel comfortable in a crowd.”

The 12-year-old Heughan attended James Gillespie's High School, which he recalls as having “very strong on rules and discipline”.

He also remembers a run-in with the school’s head teacher, after an incident involving a carton of milk.

Heughan writes: “On one occasion, I came very close to getting into trouble from the top.

“At the time, I had just been made a school prefect... The incident began with a milk carton. I had been tasked with helping to dish them out at break time to pupils who were part of a milk-in-schools scheme.

“On finding one left over, I decided to join the scheme for one break only... A moment later, like a gunslinger in some two-bit town, the headmistress stepped out.

“My eyes went wide with horror... I seized an escape route in the form of the door to the toilet block... I took one look at the open window and lobbed it out.”