"Culloden" (1964) Scottish Jacobite Rebellion Classic Docu-Drama

The last Highland Charge on Culloden Moor in 1746. "Culloden", Peter Watkins’ first full-length film, a docudrama made for the BBC, portrays the important Battle of Culloden which in the words of the narrator “tore apart forever the clan system of the Scottish Highlands”. The film was hailed as a breakthrough for its cinematography, as well as its use of non-professional actors and presentation of an historical event in the style of modern TV reporting. Watkins is known for pushing boundaries to the extreme with his documentaries and his films continue to inspire today.
In a barren Scottish moor on April 16th 1746, the tired and hungry men of the last Highland army made their final desperate charge against a well-disciplined British force led by the Duke of Cumberland. Despite their incredible courage and valor, the clan warriors met a terrible end. It was to be the ruin of the Jacobite cause...forever.

[@csanglican9596]

I saw this on PBS TV in the late 60's or early 70's. I've never forgotten it.

[@ATLmodK]

I remember thinking that it was so realistic when it first showed on PBS

[@moodyb2]

When it went out in the UK in 1964, my dad thought it so important he allowed me and my 2 brothers ( 11, 9 and 7 yrs old) to stay up to watch it. 👍

[@jasbo9734]

Brilliant docudrama. Watched it as a kid in 1964.

[@deborahdennison571]

No it's not - its full of Cumberland's propaganda from Prebble's book. Lots of misinformation in it.

[@michaelpatterson2955]

Amazing film! Man's inhumanity to man. Many deserts have thus been renamed "peace." May God have mercy on us all.

[@stevenduffy599]

The docu drama that got me interested in military history and eventually to get a degree..my eternal thanks to my teacher Mrs Elizabeth Hooton x

[@wistyrivendell1658]

The best docu dramas ever made......first watched it 45 years ago at school...hit hard then....just watched it again....still just as powerful..

[@deborahdennison571]

No, it's not. It's full of serious misinformation - lots of it. Some of the atrocities committed after the battle are accurate - but so much is based on Prebble's book which Prof Sir Tom Devine called 'faction' - fiction with a bit of fact. One example: we know know from multiple primary sources that clan Donald did NOT refuse to charge - that's not what happened. Nor did Elcho call out the insult to Charles (that was made up by Walter Scott in 1822).

[@knightowl3577]

Although they run down the Jacobite leaders at the start of this film, their men had been rampaging across Northern England before this with great success. Little wonder they were battle weary and worn down. I think most of the men who took part in that last charge knew it was folly. Their bravery in the face of a a well-trained and supplied army should have shamed and haunted Charles Stuart to his final days.

[@TheJonnyzeus]

Watched part of it as a very young child in 1964 before my mum switched off the tv because it was too disturbing. Watched it again about five years later and it was and is still disturbing.

[@naradaian]

I was 12 and my mum ( Scots ) watched it - it was quite profound an experience and a sign of the real vibrancy of 60’s culture and Arrival of Harold Wilsons government…bbc was on the ball then

[@errickflesch5565]

What a brutal and harsh existence back in those days.

[@marvwatkins7029]

With a name like Watkins, you KNOW it's tip quality!

[@kennymacdonald5313]

Two of the men who spoke Gaelic are from Harris and I'm related to both of them

[@user-yh9mc1sw6j]

How Amazing!! I’ll Bet You Were Amazed to Find This!!

[@downlink5877]

I like both this and The War Game, but I think this is Watkins' best of the two. Despite a few slips, he did a great job of portraying what it ultimately was: the desperate final battle in a British civil war with a wider European dimension, with a lot of innocent people used as pawns.

[@janice506]

It wasn’t civil war it was England invading Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scot’s aren’t British we are Scot’s

[@loyalpiper]

As a scotsman, can confirm Masterpiece.

[@IanCross-xj2gj]

Glad you enjoyed the film. By the 1740s, the Stuarts weren't popular in the lowlands. Treatment of the rebels was harsh, they were seen as guilty of treason.

[@stevovimy]

This deeply affected me when I saw it at the Royal Armouries when I was a child.

[@gachrudgaelach]

Scotland is still here🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Gaelic is still spoken💪

[@advanceaustralia3513]

There were Scots on both sides. 1/4 of the regular army Government forces were Scottish regiments. With the militia, far more Scots fought against the Jacobites. The Jacobites didn’t have a monopoly on Scottish nationality.

[@heofonfyr6000]

​​@@advanceaustralia3513none of that, which he knows, takes anything away from what he just said 🤷🏻‍♂️ although he may be forgetting the Picts that the Gaels shared the Highlands with, and the Anglo-Saxons in the Lowlands and conquered territory on who's account Scotland as a nation started speaking English a thousand years ago, and the Normans in the Courts, Castles and Royal Households, such as the Bruce.

[@charlesarmstrong5292]

A truly excellent presentation of history. So very sad what horror and pain was wrought on these brave Scots. Small wonder Charles had to be rescued, by a brave Scots woman, to escape again across the sea. So very sad, that this ill considered battle ripped a great gaping hole in the highland clans. It is scarcely believable how Charles Stuart managed to utterly ignore Lord Murray. Murray, the only experienced senior officer among Charles` advisors.

[@drybokes7055]

Ye cannae hurray a Murray.

[@deborahdennison571]

No - it's not. Charles Edward did not ignore Murray - that's utter bunk - see the better scholarship of Prof Murray Pittock and Dr Christopher Duffy on the battle. If you knew more about the history, you would know that long before the '45 Rising, plans were being made to destroy the Highland culture (per the writing of clan chiefs Lochiel and MacLean) This was their last chance.

[@alancumming6407]

I saw it as a kid in the late 60's. Tom Weir did a two part programme about Charlie's journey after Culloden and is worth a watch.

[@FloydThursby-hq1hk]

I remember watching this presentation on the old NET network in 1964 as a thirteen-year-old. The presentation of this English import was unlike anything I had ever seen before on American TV. A great piece of film making.

[@Jaymark-gk4li]

Uk tv then at school, quite excellent 👌

[@shauntaylor6040]

The Scots always like to forget, the English Army had a lot of Scottish soldiers in it in this battle. The Stuarts still believed in the divine right of Kings.

[@IanCross-xj2gj]

Most Scots seem to believe that England was solely responsible, but many low-landers supported the English Crown. Stuart support was from the highlanders.

[@biggiouschinnus7489]

Outstanding filmmaking. I would warn viewers though that the scholarship behind it is quite dated - we now know from archaeology that the Jacobites mostly had French muskets, and the artillery ammo was in fact the right size. Many of the Jacobites were not actually Highlanders - their ranks included lowlanders, and even some Englishmen. Most of the "English" government army was Lowland Scots. Mr O'Sullivan was a professional soldier in his 40s, while Murray was not and had not seen action since 1719. Murray's criticisms of O'Sullivan are now thought to have been meant to deflect criticism from his own conduct, including the botched night attack (which was actually Murray's idea.) Most British junior officers at this time were poorly paid, and had purchased their commissions in cheaper militia units before transferring. They were not, for the most part, wealthy rakes. The Jacobites did not lose because they were poorly equipped or ill-supplied, they lost because they were outnumbered, had no significant cavalry force to speak of, and had a command structure that was in complete chaos.

[@harvestcanada]

Yeah, I find, this now over dramatic, it does talk about the ordinary people who were fighting this war. The film takes a class veiw of the battle of Culloden.

[@alasdairgilchrist2504]

But it was hugely bias against the jocobites in the first quote Charles Stuart is proclaimed to have no military experience what so ever even though he had already won many battles and come as close as Derby to taking England

[@rkc906]

Bias aside the truth is there. Charlie did not know what the heck he was doing! If this drama is outdated and biased as many commenters state then why do military historians stand by it. The field was wrong for battle, the jacobite troops were in chaos, Stuart listened to the wrong men and their tactics were outdated and foolish. Yes the Jacobites got as far as Derby but ask yourself why they had to retreat back ! The truth was Culloden was the result of centuries of Clan conflict, blood fued, vengence and blind devotion to religion. That combined resulted in massacre and deletion of human rights. And Charlie? He got away to drink away in comfort. Leave the romance for Outlander, this is reality. Carnage and folly. RIP to ALL the soldiers that fought n died for the wealthy fools

[@heofonfyr6000]

If you liked this you should watch 'The massacre of Glencoe' I've had both on my hard drive since I was a teenager! I'm 39 this year.

[@francoteja8454]

Molto bello e interessante. Saluti dall'Italia.

[@hookywookywithmalarkyman704]

Any one seen the series OVERLANDER ??? i was blown away at the qaulity of actors.

[@GiorgioCocchi]

" They looked like so many butchers than christian soldiers " . So spoke an english witness referring the behaviour of the loyalist troops in the aftermath of the battle.

[@Ru_1963]

1:10:29 "On an April morning I no longer hear birdsong or the lowing of cattle on the moor. I hear the unpleasant noise of sheep and the English language, dogs barking and frightening the deer."

[@AdamHWarren]

I see John Prebble was adviser for this production. His account, "Culloden" well repays reading, as does his "History of Scotland". I look forward one day to reading his account of the Highland clearances - forced migration long before Mengistu's dictatorship in Ethiopia.

[@bobapbob5812]

I read Prebble’s book on a train in Thailand on the way to Australia.

[@doglady174]

This is brilliant rendition. If this was how the Stuart monarchy's arrogance handled leadership, it is well that they never got the throne back. Total waste of the lives of hard working men with no freedom in the clan system. Makes you sad for them even today.

[@mairiconnell6282]

The Duke of Cumberland still known today as Stinky Billy.

[@davidwolfe9722]

Almost right. The Scots renamed the awful smelling common ragwort Stinking Billy, whilst the English renamed the beautiful and aromatic dianthus baubatus - Sweet William.

[@mairiconnell6282]

@@davidwolfe9722 Absolutely my mum didn’t have Sweet William in her garden but she did have Orange Lilies? Now that’s another story!!!!

[@IanCross-xj2gj]

"Butcher" Cumberland was another nickname

[@davidwolfe9722]

@@IanCross-xj2gj I didn't know he had a shop.

[@tommartin2648]

This is really good !!! Highly informative… just been to Culloden … if you go you must do a guided battlefield tour organised at the visitors centre .. excellent !!!

[@eunicemurray8482]

I am jamaican there is a district in a parish by the name Culloden

[@harvestcanada]

It not surprising since Irish and scot cathixs were transported to the Caribbean as indeturedvsetvents and labourers, under punitve laws, to keep them from formenting a rebellion with enslaved African against the English plantocracy.

[@HaveMonkeyWillDance]

What a grotesque, primitive thing the clans were. Great doccie.

[@rkc906]

I had tostop watching at 30 mins for a bit. A sick feeling in the stomach.

[@marvwatkins7029]

(Those single rail cannons look more like mid to late 19th Century. But if course most people wouldn't know that and their effect is more important here anyway.)

[@jacobitelivinghistory]

Fun fact that Cannon was the only one they had if you look closely it’s the same one ever-time

[@oldbari2604]

Also the English drummers are playing modern drums. Drums of this period would have been rope drums.

[@andrewworth7574]

Better check it out, as Brandon F has recommended it.

[@a0b0]

and the germans are still in buckingham palace.

[@marypetrie930]

They have more Stuart ancestry!

[@IanCross-xj2gj]

House of Windsor are the great survivors.

[@jamescorlett5272]

this recreation is very very good if Very harsh on Charles - who made sure the Rebles were in a " shambles " ? .

[@soultraveller5027]

The stuarts and wee bonnie prince charlie jacobite rebellion ultimate aim was to usrp the legitimate crown from the House of Hannover, and they paid the price of their folly.

[@IanCross-xj2gj]

The Prince was badly advised to fight on open ground. A retreat to his HQ at Inverness would have made military sense. The government forces would have found their supply lines stretched.

[@kevcaratacus9428]

Didn't Murray tell the Prince he shouldn't have fought at culloden moor !? He told them it would suit the British army the cannons their cavalry & infantry . I havnt watched this video But I did read about Murray a few years ago. They say he was a great commander it was because of him they got as far as derby That they won at Preston pans and other battles . From what I remember Prince charley blamed him and didn't want to know him after culloden,.

[@dai19721]

The Welsh had Jacobites as well....

[@downlink5877]

and English Jacobites too; Manchester Regiment for example. Just made sense to launch the rebellion in the highlands where you could take advantage of limited government control and residual Stuart loyalty among certain clans.

[@ThomasRobertson-ox5ur]

Welsh jacobite were no good 2 buzzy shafting sheep

[@marvwatkins7029]

(I wonder if all those facial scars are real or just damn good makeup?)

[@tomjones7593]

Aye, and had the battle gone the other way, of course, there would have been no brutality... Early BBC effort though well done.

[@666janet]

😢

[@user-dj6zv9hd8j]

.. and Centuries later so it continues...Human Evolution has a long, long, way to go.

[@paulbennett4415]

"John Mallorby, pressed into service..." 😐😮

[@juanitacamacho3690]

II wouldn't know anything about this battle if it wasn't for the series, "Outlander".

[@rewdwarf123]

And never again, would anyone make a claim to the throne of Great Britain.

[@SuperDave-hu4cu]

😇😇😇

[@nwofoe2866]

Charles had earlier won the battle of Prestonpans

[@peteychops7888]

A rangers fan special..😒

[@findmejak1]

Blàr Chùil Lodair.....

[@jimpomac]

Without wishing to sound pedantic, those drums are not correct for the era. Those are modern drums with mechanical tensioning. Drums from this era would have been Rope tensioned and would not have Kevlar heads.

[@Mediatech492]

A pretty good, though heavily biased, account of the 45.

[@heofonfyr6000]

when your average 1960s BBC documentary with a shoestring budget and totally amateur first time 'actors' chosen from random townspeople is more entertaining than Hollywood 😆

[@caracalla6472]

Shoestring budget and amateur actors might be right, but I don't think this docu was ever 'average'. Made a huge impression on me (aged 9) and those of my classmates who were allowed to watch it (many weren't). Didn't see Culloden again for 40 years, but could never forget it.

[@MitchBast-xu7jg]

So glad my Scottish ancestors made the voyage to America, where, after the revolution, self determination was and is the ladder to upward mobility. No matter how hard you worked in the old country, you remained in debt, enslaved, and conscripted. God rest their mighty souls

[@melmo5218]

It's not a bed of roses now, is it. The States have hardly known more than 30 years when it wasn't fighting a war since its inception and, had they arrived at this time, they would have landed right in the middle of a nation when slavery was still legal. Vote for Tulsi Gabbard and you might get some of the American dream back.

[@stevovimy]

The Scottish feudal system is what oppressed your ancestors, not the English.

[@cookyladyyaya9821]

Mine too, the Clendenins settled in West Virginia in the 1800s.

[@snazzydares8787]

The British army never conscripted until 1916 and then ended in 1918

[@mikey29211]

Snider rifles with a fake lock

[@user-wl6eg4ro3v]

I see why the traitor clans still have there castles hmm.i want ours back

[@slypen7450]

Awesome tragedy. Outstanding presentation!

[@janice506]

I’m of clan Douglas my ancestors fought beside the Bruce . Scottish & proud never British.

[@thewhitedoncheadle8345]

the bruces were in the arse pocket of the english

[@Ed-ty1kr]

Killing as suffering in the name of dogma, and one mans claim of authority over anouther. The only authority a king has over you, is one you give him.

[@Desert-Father]

Which side are you talking about again? Someone has drunk too deeply of his own dogma...

[@Ed-ty1kr]

"🤢🤮"~@@Desert-Father

[@Ed-ty1kr]

@@Desert-Father The begining of your comment ≠ the ending. Try again... this time without bias. Here, I'll help: I did not pick a side, I spoken in general as an observer. I saw an acknowledgement of authority, that gave it credence, which was very absurd to me. Meaning royalty on both sides in dispute, lining up men for slaughter, then culling them for their own ends. Again... I did not pick a side, I simply observed, and thought to myself what a shame for brothers to kill one anouther, over some pompus royal dispute that they have nothing to do with. What gave these pompus royals the rite to do that? Then I thought: Why give a pompus royal authority over you, by acknowledgeing their dogma, and thereby giving their authority credence? NO! I say If the royals have a dispute THEN LET THEM SETTLE IT THEMSELVES!!! Meaning they can pick up a rifle or pistol, and settle it ON THEIR OWN!! Hope I helped break the royal cults grip on your mind.

[@Desert-Father]

@Ed-ty1kr If you can't see how this is blatant propaganda, you need a history lesson. The English narrator just describe a clan system that existed for hundreds of years as "ruthless" knowing full well that the English systematically destroyed it in one of the most brutal acts of genocide in the history of the British Isles. This film is a relic of a time when they described the British Empire as it was a positive.

[@Desert-Father]

@@Ed-ty1kr Go back to school kid.

[@darrenmackenzie1892]

I'm a Mackenzie I was a traitor??

[@johnellacott878]

A patriot

[@user-hr3fb5qw6d]

The Jacobite prisoners, and highland civilians were treated like the Palestinians are being treated by the Israelis.

[@heofonfyr6000]

''They have created a desert, and called it peace'' lol not quite at any rate the Jacobites are to blame if you ask me

[@kennymacdonald5313]

Well done, the Redcoats!

[@keithmoore5224]

Scotland in 1740s was a devided country they the jacobites caolics would not have. Taken conntrol of the uk for long with out another civel War just saying thank god mel gibson did not make this 😂😂😂

[@deborahdennison571]

If you consult the better scholarship of Prof Murray Pittock (Glasgow) and Dr Christopher Duffy (most respected military historian on Culloden) you will find that so much of what's in this film is pure bunk. Charles Edward did not ignore Murray's advice - the choice of the field was made by the entire Jacobite Command - lots of documentary evidence to support that. It's just one instance of the anti-Stuart bias of this English made film.

[@user-cn9bi3rx5e]

Irishmen fought on both sides 🇮🇪

[@Desert-Father]

"Ruthless clan system" How to say "This is English propaganda" without having to say "This is English propaganda"...

[@snazzydares8787]

It’s not if it was they wouldn’t show the British army killing women and children

[@danielomar9712]

In all honesty , this is a 60s movie , the resources they used is probably very very outdated and biased Although , you can see they tried their best to show the Jacobites as victims too , as with how they were massacred the prosecuted following the defeat

[@eriksvens763]

The clan system was not good tough

[@Desert-Father]

@@eriksvens763 Drink that English Kool-aid mate. Highland Clearances were ethnic cleansing.

[@Al-iv3mb]

As always it's the rich and privileged who are in positions of power, and it's the ordinary man who suffers.

[@frankgordon8829]

This was sad to watch. As a veteran military man of two wars, I see this as a pathetic, needless massacre. Where is Mel Gibson when you need him?

[@snazzydares8787]

In this case the British were in the right they ended the horrible Scottish feudal system

[@sandybell4913]

@@snazzydares8787 but by what means? By the complete destruction of an entire race of people?

[@Jubilo1]

The HIghland Regiments all had tartan kilts and bagpipes. Watkin's is wee bit disingenuous.

[@jameslennon1727]

The civilian population was not permitted to wear the tartan or play the pipes. Loyal Highland regiments in military service were exempted. Watkin's is not disingenuous at all. He stated it as it was.

[@Jubilo1]

@@jameslennon1727 And the Campbells- possibly the largest clan were uneffected.

[@drewrobertson3301]

@@jameslennon1727That was after culloden.

[@user-yh9mc1sw6j]

@@Jubilo1u

[@Desert-Father]

​@@Jubilo1That's because they were English lapdogs

[@seneca-jl7lt]

This was a hatchet job and extremely poor "history". I would suggest reading the works of Prof. Murray Pittock and former Sandhurst lecturer, the late Prof. Chris Duffy.