Clan Carruthers: Films and Music produced by Bob Carruthers

Bob Carruthers is an award-winning Scottish film and music producer, screenwriter, author, publisher, film director and sports club owner.

Born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in 1960, Carruthers attended Kirkcaldy High School. After graduating from Edinburgh University in 1981 and working for Central Television (now ITV Central) Carruthers founded the documentary production company Cromwell Productions Ltd, based in Stratford-upon-Avon.

During the 1990s, Cromwell Productions Ltd became a production company specialising in historical and arts documentaries. Carruthers was the writer and producer behind Music Maestro, Campaigns In History, Line of Fire, Weapons of War, The English Civil War (2002 TV series), History of Warfare Series and Battlefield Series IV and V. He received an Emmy Award after being nominated by Disney Channel for writing and producing Dinosaurs: Myths and Realities which was voiced by Brian Blessed. Following this partnership with Blessed, the pair worked on numerous documentaries and eventually on three feature films. An early example of the arts was the interview program Tony Iommi: The Guitar That Drives Black Sabbath in 1992 about Tony Iommi, a founder member of the band.

The film Chasing the Deer was produced in 1994 and starred the British Actor Brian Blessed and is based on the Battle of Culloden, it was the third highest grossing British feature film of that year.

The film Chasing the Deer was produced in 1994 starring Brian Blessed and was based on the Battle of Culloden.

Its plot was set around the time leading up to Jacobite rising of 1745, and followed a young Highlander called Euan (Lewis Rae) when he and his father Alistair are press-ganged into the Jacobite army to fight for the Young Pretender,  Bonnie Prince Charlie. Euan’s group of warriors are captured by Honovarian  loyalist troops and he is forced to join the ‘Butcher’, the Duke of Cumberland’s army as a drummer  for the English. Major Elliot (Brian Blessed), a Hanoverian officer who has lost his own son, forms a protective relationship with Euan. Father and son end up fighting on opposing sides at Culloden. Euan is killed, and Alistair runs to his aid. Seeing a Jacobite soldier standing over the body of his favourite soldier, Major Elliot kills Alistair.

For the battle scenes, notably the depiction of the battle itself, the filmmakers engaged a Scottish re-enactment group, the Scottish Clan Battle Society, was used to perform the historical combat. The group also performed in other Scottish historical films such as Highlander (1985) and Braveheart (1995).

Chasing The Deer was filmed on location in Scotland, including Culloden, Fort George, Kingussie, Ruthven Barracks and the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland, Some internal sequences were filmed in England in Hagley Hall and some battle scenes in nearby Wuchbury Hill, both on Worcestershire.  It became the third highest grossing British feature film of that year. 

Chasing the Deer was followed by The Bruce starring Oliver Reed, another Scottish historical epic which was released to cinemas in 1996. The film, set in Scotland and England in the early 14th century, depicts the story of the Scottish warrior. freedom fighter and Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce. It follows him through his coronation as King of Scots and the War of Scottish Independence against the English, culminating in the historic battle at Bannockburn in 1314.

Macbeth starring Jason Connery and Helan Baxendale, was his next poduction and won the US Silver Screen Award.

Away from the mainstream cinema Carruthers also made low budget films, producing and directing Steel Tempest, Zombie Driftwood and Wraith Rovers as examples of what can be achieved on tiny budgets.

Classic Rock Productions Ltd, which produced hundreds of music documentaries and CD releases, was founded in 2000 by Bob Carruthers . The company also toured and promoted such well known rock groups as Uriah Heep, Asia and Focus. Documentaries and concert films produced in this period include Jethro Tull, Wishbone Ash and Jack Bruce. He was also the executive producer on albums by British progressive group Mostly Autumn, including the critically acclaimed Passengers, an album which saw the band headlining at the London Astoria.

In 2004, Carruthers promoted the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and the band subsequently toured Britain with the comedians Ade Edmondson, Phill Jupitus, Stephen Fry and Bill Bailey. Edmondson, Jupitus and Fry all appeared on the studio album Pour l’Amour des Chiens and the live album Wrestle Poodles… And Win! In 2009 he published the book The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – Jollity Farm.

An avid sports fan, in 2006, Carruthers became owner of Edinburgh Rugby, the professional rugby team based in Edinburgh, which was acquired from the Scottish Rugby Union. The most significant result on the field was Edinburgh’s first ever victory over Munster at Thomond Park. The DVD and book entitled The Hard Yards describes the events on the field. The off field events are recounted in the book The Murrayfield Experience.

Since 2011 Carruthers has concentrated mainly on his writing career. His works have been published by such mainstream houses such as Cassell, Carlton Books and Pen and Sword Books covering such subjects as the Second World War, the English Civil War, the Wehrmacht, the Nuremberg Trial and individual bands such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

He currently runs Visions of War Limited, a new military history channel broadcasting every day at 4 pm on Sky 192 and Freesat 402.