“Jackie Stewart won three Formula 1 world championships at a time when motor-racing was an awesome combination of speed, skill and sideburns! This film provides a great insight into the history of F1 and some real perspective.” – Stig

Highly recommended viewing for F1 fans, drivers and stewards. The full 90 minute documentary will be shown on BBC Four on Saturday 11 April at 7pm.

JACKIE STEWART: THE FLYING SCOT
(90 minute documentary)
Saturday 11 April 2009 on BBC Four at 7.00pm

Sir Jackie Stewart – winner of three F1 World Championships and 27 Grands Prix – will turn 70 this coming June 2009. 40 years ago, with his black cap and sideburns and the 1969 World Championship under his belt, Stewart became an unmistakable icon of the 1960s.

Friend and rival Emerson Fittipaldi remembers the period when “Planet of the Apes” – style hair was de rigueur: “It was a fashion in the sixties, the type of hair, the sideburns. I said, ‘Why not? Jackie has sideburns and he’s going fast, I have to have bigger ones to go even faster than him!’”

Beyond the world of motor sport, The Flying Scot is above all a compelling human story – and a comprehensive insight into the triumphs and tragedies of an eventful life. Stewart’s driving career ended in 1973, at his 99th Grand Prix, where he won his third World Championship – and lost his friend and team-mate Francois Cevert. The film goes on to describe Stewart’s subsequent rise as an internationally respected businessman and his successes with Stewart Grand Prix, his own F1 team.

The Flying Scot film includes contributions from many friends and colleagues, including Niki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi, Sean Connery, Murray Walker and Edsel Ford, as well as the last-ever interview with the late Ken Tyrrell, without whom Stewart’s career might have taken a very different turn.

Produced by Stewart’s younger son Mark and award-winning director Mark Craig, the film is enriched with family photographs, home movies and scrapbooks kept by Lady Helen Stewart, documenting her husband’s career.

[MARK STEWART PRODUCTIONS]

BBC schedule:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jw9gn