Alan Cumming, host of the 2025 BAFTA TV Awards, is getting ready for the big night Don’t miss the show on Sunday 11 May on BBC One or BBC iPlayer! Tune in and find out who takes home the P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award
He’s a Scottish actor - stage and screen plus presenter most recently on the American version of Traitors. He is very camp and funny - an acquired taste tbh - his dress sense on Traitors was over the top - lots of tartan
I’m afraid Alan is now a bit too much OTT for my personal taste. However he did perform flawlessly in a documentary drama where the main protagonist refused to be seen but did record the speaking part. Alan lip synced the whole piece. When you recall how hopelessly lip syncing used to be on TOTP you will appreciate how much of a talent he is. Unfortunately the programme isn’t currently available on iPlayer (hopefully it will return or be available on other platforms. It is a truly amazing story & performance.
For a whole school year a new boy convinced his Scottish high school classmates and teachers that he was just a regular pupil.
But eventually the teenager who called himself Brandon Lee was exposed as an imposter called Brian MacKinnon, who had left the same school more than a decade earlier.
A new film retells the story of how a 30-year-old man, claiming to be 17-year-old from Canada, enrolled as a fifth year student at Bearsden Academy, near Glasgow, in 1993 and gained five A-grade Highers before his world collapsed.
It was a year later, while he was a student at Dundee University's medical school, that his double life was revealed by a newspaper and MacKinnon was thrown off his course.
The story gained worldwide attention, with many alarmed at the thought of young girls unconsciously consorting with a man almost twice their age.
The new film was written and directed by Jono McLeod, who was a 16-year-old classmate of MacKinnon - or Brandon, as he still calls him.
My Old School.
In 1993, 16-year-old Brandon Lee enrolled at Bearsden Academy, a secondary school in a well-to-do suburb of Glasgow. What followed over the next two years would become the stuff of legend.
Brandon had been privately tutored in Canada while he accompanied his mother - an opera diva - on tour before her tragic death. The preternaturally bright student surprised teachers by blazing toward his goal of entering medical school, displaying a wealth of knowledge beyond his years. Brandon found friends despite his initial awkwardness and took bullied students under his wing. He introduced classmates to seminal retro bands and even starred in the school's production of South Pacific - until his unbelievable secret was revealed.
Film-maker Jono McLeod explores the strange story of Brandon Lee. Utilising playful, period-specific animation, a pitch-perfect soundtrack, the memories of students and teachers, and the talents of Alan Cumming and Lulu to bring the tale to life, this documentary offers more than one surprise along the way and finally reveals the truth behind one of the most incredible stories of the past 30 years.
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