DUNURE is basking in the spotlight this week as it features in a new film starring Timothy Spall.

The film charts the story of 90-year-old Tom Harper (Spall) who, after the death of his wife Mary (Phyllis Logan), travels the 874 miles from their home at Scotland’s most northern mainland point, John O’Groats, to England’s most southern point, Land’s End, via buses using his bus pass.

Directed by Scottish filmmaker Gillies MacKinnon (Small Faces, Whisky Galore), The Last Bus was filmed across Scotland in October and November 2019 and was released last Friday.

Despite the epic nature of the journey, production never left Scotland, instead making clever use of Scottish locations and regional buses to recreate the route.

Among the filming locations were Dunure on the Ayrshire coast and Hunterston House in West Kilbride, both of which are familiar to Outlander fans as filming locations for the hit television series.

Most of the filming took place in and around Glasgow, including making use of attractions such as the Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, and Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust, in which the exterior was used for bus stops and depots, while sets were built inside the museum.

Jenni Steele, Film and Creative Industries Manager at VisitScotland, said: “Big and small screen productions have always played their part in attracting visitors to Scotland and it’s wonderful to have Ayrshire on-screen in this life-affirming tale.

“Films shot in Scotland not only boost the local economy during production but are a shop window for the country’s amazing landscapes. They provide an opportunity to promote regions across the seasons and the long-term impact allows for investment and product development to take place which enables sustainable growth in tourism.”

Gillies MacKinnon, Director of The Last Bus, said: “On my first read of Joe Ainsworth’s The Last Bus, I loved the idea of a road movie for an old man, travelling by bus with his senior citizen’s bus pass.

“After the death of Mary, his wife, Tom Harper sets out to recreate in exact detail the journey he and Mary took over sixty years earlier, but in reverse order, using the same bus routes and Bed and Breakfasts. This is to be his ritual, which he follows faithfully, until life knocks him off course.”