Having a Glasgow-set soap opera may have seemed like a novel idea to many viewers when River City hit our screens back in the autumn of 2002, and yet it was far from being the first of its kind.
That distinction goes to High Living, a show that had aired on STV more than 30 years earlier. First broadcast on December 5, 1968, the thrice-weekly TV serial introduced viewers to the Crombie family, who, like so many of Glasgow's working class families in the '60s, have just moved from an old tenement into a new multi-storey tower block.
It was co-penned by Glasgow-born Jack Gerson, who would later create another Scots TV favourite, paranormal activity drama The Omega Factor (1979). In episode one of High Living, the Crombies have just completed their flit. Andy, Kate and the children are looking forward to modern living but, the grandmother of the family is unsettled and unimpressed by this new high rise life.
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The show's setting was like holding up a mirror for many local fans in the Swinging Sixties - and nowhere was this more true than at the Wyndford estate in Maryhill, the setting of the fictional Caulton Court where the Crombie family lived.
“Wyndford is like a ghost town around 7.30 pm on Thursday evenings,” commented Mr John Blair, the then chairman of the Wyndford Tenants’ Association.
“We are following the series with great interest, and like to think the Crombies are typical of the tenants we have at Wyndford. In fact, we are thinking of sending them an enrolment form for membership of the tenant’s association.”
Reviewing the landmark first episode for London entertainment paper The Stage, writer Gordon Irving commented that the characters were interesting, the actors' accents were "not over-Scottish", and that the show had promise.
He wrote: "The title High Living suggests a documentary more than a serial, and some re-thinking would be advisable here, but the programme has a social theme running through it, and its endorsement by Glasgow's Lord Provost may have local impetus. With really interesting characters written in, the serial has possibilities.
"After all, Coronation Street wasn't built in a day, let alone one programme."
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Scottish viewers seemed quite pleased to have their very own version of Coronation Street, and by the time of High Living's 100th episode in June 1970, it was revealed that around 1.5 million were tuning in. The show also gained a sizeable following south of the border, with a number of episodes screened by HTV, ATV and Southern.
When the final episode aired in August 1971, High Living had built up a devote fanbase, prompting the creation of a spin-off series, A Place of Her Own, featuring a newly-widowed Kate Crombie adjusting to life after the death of her husband. While its run was limited, lasting a little over two-and-a-half years, High Living was regarded a huge success., with the Scots soap opera sewing the seeds for future telly hits such as Garnock Way, Take the High Road, and, ultimately, River City.
And yet in spite of High Living's popularity and historical significance, you won't find a single bit of footage from Scotland's pioneering soap opera online, because, astonishingly, all the original reels are believed to have been wiped. Although a total of 200 episodes were filmed between 1968 and 1971, heartbreakingly, only a handful of stills and two scripts of High Living are known to have survived.
Just remember, though: without the Crombies of Caulton Court, there would likely be no Murdochs of Shieldinch.
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