Hebridean hinterland makes Sorcha a powerful ambassador

​In the case of An t-Eilean, the medium is television drama and the message it conveys on Gaelic’s behalf is already becoming a more significant story than the question of who killed whom in Amhuinnsuidhe Castle.

For this, much of the credit is due to Sorcha Groundsell, who has emerged not only as the leading actor in the production but also as a passionate and articulate champion of the language itself – and why it should be used in every theatre of life, by anyone who can.

One absolute certainty is that many millions more have been receiving positive messages about Gaelic than are ever likely to watch ‘An t-Eilean’. The amount of publicity the series has generated is extraordinary, and almost all of it in a good and positive way.

From the Today programme on Radio 4 to BBC1’s Morning Live, Sorcha has done the rounds – explaining why it matters for Gaelic and other minority languages to be spoken and heard through every medium. Nobody seems to dissent once the case is made, which may be An t’Eilean’s most significant legacy.

Sorcha’s own story is one with which many can now identify. She went through Gaelic-medium education before embarking upon a career that took her in other directions. Without a route back into the Gaelic world, both the opportunities and confidence to speak the language would have faded.

In her case, An t-Eilean has provided that opportunity. But, as she says: “The important question is what happens next?”. Will there be more opportunities for more people? Will there be a higher level of confidence within her Gaelic-medium educated generation to use the language, even if it’s not perfect?

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SORCHA’S DAD, a graphic designer, is originally from Devon and she was born in Bristol. However, within a few weeks of birth they were in her mother’s native South Uist, with her MacPhee grandparents in Smerclate, and her early years were entirely Hebridean. Her father’s work, for a time with MacTV, took them to Lewis, they lived in Ness and Sorcha spent her first five primary school years in Lionel, through Gaelic-medium education.

“It was a wonderful place to grow up”, she says. “Lovely people, a lovely community, very free – what more could a child ask for? I used to take riding lessons on a pony called Buttons, which I think was quite famous. It was very different from living in a city!”.

Her parents then decided on a return to city life and her mother Mel held senior corporate relations roles with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service, followed by Seafish. Sorcha completed her primary years and then went through secondary at Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu.

So where did the drama kick in? She recalls: “It wasn’t really offered in school though for a time we had a wonderful visiting teacher, Jane McCarry (aka Isa from ‘Still Game’), who came occasionally. Apart from that, it wasn’t something we could study in school”.

Outside of school, however, Sorcha was developing her own interest in drama which was first sparked by the movies she watched at home – Casablanca and Disney always get a mention! Back in 2015, she said in an interview: “There was something magical about them that opened up your imagination … it slowly dawned on me that this thing I was interested in was something I could make a career out of.”

Sorcha looks back now: “I was 14 when I started pursuing acting. I did lots of part-time classes outside school – the Citizens Theatre and later the Royal Conservatoire." She was too young for drama school but persuaded a Glasgow acting studio to take her under its wing and soon after got her big break.

At 16, she left school and opted to go straight into an acting career, having met the parental condition of first obtaining her five Highers. Through an open casting call, she soon secured a role in a film called Iona. Sorcha recalls: “It wasn’t about Iona but it was set there. Come to think of it, the plot wasn’t dissimilar to An t-Eilean. It was about a woman retreating back to an island and finding her past catching up with her. Maybe I’ve gone full circle!”.

The niche film won decent reviews but most significantly for Sorcha, she was approached by a London agent off the back of it and signing up took her to the great metropolis by the time she was 18. Shortly afterwards, her parents headed back to Smerclate and a crofting life, which has continued to give Sorcha a precious link to her Hebridean roots.

“Because I got in with this London agent”, she recalls, “I think the focus moved south. Working in Scotland, or particularly in Gaelic, was always of interest to me if there had been jobs, but once I was in London, that was where my work tended to be”.

There is impressive evidence, however, that her desire to work in Gaelic long pre-dated An t’Eilean. She told The Herald in a 2018 interview: “The Gaelic film industry is really underutilised. There’s a lot of scope for creativity and there are a lot of great stories to be told. I think we’re due a great uprising of Gaelic culture. There’s space to do that. I would love to write in Gaelic. I see Gaelic culture as a huge part of myself and my personality. It’s really important to me to have that part of Scottish culture represented.”

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SORCHA WAS 20 when she said all that and it took another six years for her vision to be fulfilled. In the intervening period, she had built a strong portfolio of work in film and TV. “Like everyone else in the business, I had my fair share of periods of unemployment”, she says, “but it was a nice balance between doing my own thing and interesting work that came my way”.

Her highest profile credit was in an eight-part Netflix series called The Innocents which was about two teenagers in love who run away together. Sorcha’s character discovers she has supernatural powers so it turns into a sci-fi adventure. It was filmed in Norway and introduced Sorcha to the red carpet treatment with an international media build-up and New York premiere.

A Vogue interview in 2018 reported that Chanel had kitted her out for the premiere. The story added: “She admits the red carpet element of her job is an education. ‘It does freak me out a little bit, but I am finding it more fun. I think I was taking myself too seriously before. I had to be a serious actor. I was almost frightened to be a bit frivolous’.”.

“It felt quite life-changing”, says Sorcha eight years on. “We only got one series. There was every intention of producing more but it was a crowded market and Netflix was being very cautious about its renewals. So it was back to the ‘same old’ – living in London and doing whatever came along”.

Plenty came along. There was top billing in a well-reviewed movie Far from the Apple Tree and a string of roles in TV series which included Crime and Shetland, before An t’Eilean finally came knocking early last year. “Black Camel (the company which produced the series for BBC Alba) got in touch with me about it when they were in the process of finishing off the script.

“My response was hugely positive. I was very honoured to be asked because I had not done work in Gaelic before then. For me, it was the perfect job at the perfect time. It was the perfect way for me to re-establish the connection”.

Filming took place in Harris from April to July. “It was really wonderful”, says Sorcha. “Everyone was so excited about the opportunity and really passionate about the product”. Now it is on screen, she is “pleasantly surprised” by the strength of positive response.

“Things can be really hyped and then really tank. I know how much hope was invested in the show by everyone involved and all their aspirations seem to have come to fruition, which is very gratifying”.

Perhaps the highest of these aspirations was to demonstrate the simple truth that there is no barrier to the use of Gaelic in “high-end” productions of this kind, a view which Sorcha naturally endorses. “I think we are all fighting the same fight” she says. “All the cast and crew are really committed to the success of Gaelic broadcasting rather than just the success of this show within it”.

Indeed, her hope is that the principle established by An t-Eilean will be extended with more actors and also the people behind the cameras bringing Gaelic to the set.

The director, Tom Sullivan, is Irish and a speaker of Gaelige which, says Sorcha, “gave him a direct way into the language. It would have been tricky without him”.

The wider messages which Sorcha has been communicating on behalf of Gaelic are just as important to her. “It was a really positive exercise to remind each of us about the importance of speaking the language and having the opportunities to use it.

“We worry that our Gaelic isn’t good enough. We worry that we don’t really deserve to call ourselves Gaelic speakers. But that is a recipe for disaster. If Gaelic is going to survive, we have to put all of that aside. We have to be confident”.