Spotlight falls on Kirkliston-born explorer Isobel Wylie Hutchison

Kirsty MacDonald, who discovered Hutchison was a distant relative while researching her family tree, embarks on a journey to Greenland.

The country – particularly the island of Uummannaq – was a place pioneering botanist, filmmaker, writer and artist Hutchison held dear to her heart. She lived on the tiny rocky island off the north-west coast of Greenland for almost a year, nearly a century ago.

It was there she found the inspiration to write On Greenland’s Closed Shore – The Fairyland of the Arctic after embarking on an incredible journey from Scotland to the Arctic Circle to study botany.

In the documentary, Kirsty also visits the family home at Carlowrie Castle in Kirkliston, where Isobel was born in 1889 and learns of her heartache over the loss of her father and two brothers.

In the Western Isles, she explores how, a century before the fashionable Butt to Barra cycling trips and the Hebridean Way became popular, Isobel learnt Gaelic and made a solo excursion the length of the islands on foot, writing an article which was published in the National Geographic.

Produced by Caledonia TV, Greenland: Sgeul Isobel Wylie Hutchison documents Kirsty’s voyage of discovery, armed with a rare first edition of Isobel’s book and includes remarkable archive footage of Isobel’s early films.

Kirsty’s aim is to find out why Isobel was so drawn to a remote region forbidden to foreigners, with no scientific reason for being there, and how life has changed in the region in the near-century since Isobel was there.

Isobel filmed the landscape, plant life and daily lives of the indigenous people of Greenland, with a focus on the domestic details of Inuit life. Her work was unique at the time and made her a well-respected amateur anthropologist.

Despite her fearless appetite for adventure Isobel was a largely-forgotten heroine, but this is now changing.

Greenland: Sgeul Isobel Wylie Hutchison aired on BBC ALBA on December 27 but will be available on the BBC iPlayer until January 26 – so there’s time to catch up.