Castle Leoch is a real place
Well, sort of—it’s really Doune Castle, in central Scotland, where Heughan and McTavish are treated to some bagpipe playing as they remember their time shooting at the location. In Outlander, the fictional Castle Leoch was the stronghold of the MacKenzie clan, and the edifice figured prominently in the first season. “Very good memories for both of us,” Heughan says as they reminisce. “If those walls could speak,” McTavish jokes.
Craig Na Dun’s stones were cast from an actual stone circle
The magical huge standing stones called Craig Na Dun that take Claire (Caitriona Balfe) back in time in Outlander is not a real place, but such circles do exist in Scotland. In Men in Kilts, Heughan tells viewers how casts were taken of the real-life Calanais Stones on the Isle of Lewis, off Scotland’s northwest coast, in order to make the ones used in filming the show. “There was a point where we did a shoot where we had the stone in a studio surrounded by I think a hundred cameras,” Heughan says. “So we did this amazing sequence where it spins around and I’m on one side and Caitriona was on the other.” But do the real stones actually work for time travel? As Heughan finds out when they visit, sadly, no. “Forgive me but I have to do this, it’s my only chance, I mean I see every other tourist do it,” he says before touching the stones—and going nowhere.
Outlander featured a professional Gaelic singer
Staying true to the story’s Scottish roots, Outlander featured traditional Scottish singer Gillebride MacMillan as Gwyllyn the Bard, performing in the Gaelic language at Castle Leoch in Season 1. “Gaelic’s my first language, I had no English until I went to school,” he tells Heughan and McTavish on Men in Kilts. And although the Gaelic used in Outlander may seem like a thing of the past, the traditional culture is still strong today. “There are about 70,000 Gaelic speakers here in Scotland,” MacMillan says.
Graham McTavish had to read Gaelic lines in Outlander from cue cards
Speaking of speaking Gaelic, the cast of Outlander had to learn some of the language for their roles as well, even if they kind of cheated. “We obviously spoke Gaelic in Outlander—we learned it phonetically but it was somewhat of a fraud on our part which I’m ashamed of,” McTavish says. But as Heughan reveals, there’s even more to this behind-the-scenes story. “So you did quite a few scenes of Outlander in Gaelic, as did I,” Heughan says. “But I seem to remember I learnt mine—you had dummy boards.” For good reason, McTavish says. “I had dummy boards in one scene because I had a six-page speech!” he retorts. Heughan won’t let him off that easy: “But I also remember they wrote the dummy boards, but you didn’t have your glasses on because Dougal doesn’t wear glasses, so they had to write them in very large letters so you could read them!” Heughan jokes back.
Graham McTavish didn’t enjoy singing in Outlander
McTavish himself also sang in Outlander, but he didn’t particularly like the experience—and apparently, neither did his co-stars. “I’ve had a terrible history with musicals, and I did sing in Outlander—it had a mixed reception,” McTavish says as Heughan moans, “Oh, here we go.” McTavish retorts, “No I’m not going to sing it!” But the duo does follow up that banter with a little rendition of “The Maid Gaed [Go] to the Mill,” a bawdy song that Dougal led clan MacKenzie in singing in Season 1 episode 5, as they rode along on horseback.
Jamie’s sword dance had hidden meaning
When Heughan danced a Scottish jig in Brownsville in Season 5 episode 4, it may have had a hidden meaning, foreshadowing the Frasers’ showdown with the Brown brothers later on. Turns out, dancing over swords was a tradition performed by Scottish soldiers before battle. As Men in Kilts’ dancing expert Cerys Jones explains, if you kick the swords by accident while dancing, you’re going to die. No pressure there. “I did have to do a dance in Outlander—it was a sort of variation of a Highland fling [a type of dance] with swords,” Heughan remembers of filming the scene. “It was quite hard because we had these big boots on!”
The sport played on Outlander had a greater purpose
As Heughan and McTavish tried their hand at some Scottish sports, they remembered filming a scene in which their characters played against each other in Outlander’s first season. “Myself and you played a little bit of shinty featured in a show called Outlander,” Heughan remembers. “Shinty’s a bit like a cross between hockey and lacrosse. I believe I won.” But with one caveat, McTavish reminds him. “Yes, you beat me—because it was in the script, Sam!” McTavish says. “I remember when we were doing it, the director told us it was historically used for practicing swordplay.”
Heughan’s uncle made Outlander’s fiery cross
When Heughan and McTavish explore the Scottish tradition of basket weaving, Heughan revealed he has a personal connection to the skill that was displayed on Outlander. “My uncle [Trevor Leat] is a basket weaver—he makes a lot of wicker structures, and he did a couple for Outlander,” Heughan says. “He did the stag [which was in the Scottish festival episode of Season 4 episode 3] and the fiery cross in Season 5, both of which were burnt, so basically everything of his gets burnt!” Setting the traditional cross on fire, as Jamie does at the end of Season 5 episode 11, is a sign to his loyal men that it’s time to fight.
Outlander’s magic isn’t totally made up
Traveling through stones may not exist, but even so, “Scotland is a land of many superstitions,” McTavish says. Heughan says this goes for even little things like the direction you stir your porridge, “basically to ward off the devil.” In Scotland, “the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead is especially thin,” Heughan says, which is very much played up on Outlander. “With all this as backdrop, is it any wonder that [Outlander author] Diana Gabaldon said of Scotland,’” Heughan begins, with McTavish continuing, “‘There’s no place on earth with more of the old superstitions and magic mixed into its daily life.’”
Outlander actors might not have been safe in Outlander times
As depicted in Outlander, suspected witches like Claire and Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek) were actually burnt at the stake for heresy in Scotland in centuries past. “Scotland was particularly zealous in its persecution of witches, wasn’t it? Compared to anywhere else,” McTavish says. But had the Men in Kilts duo lived back then, they might not have been safe, either. “Weren’t actors burnt, or at least mistrusted?” Heughan asks. “They used to bury actors at crossroads I think, sometimes with a stake through their heart, because they were so terrified of them coming back—they didn’t trust them because they could pretend to be other people,” McTavish explains. “It was a very terrifying time to live.”
The pagan ritual Claire witnesses could have happened
Even with a fear of witches and the devil, pagan traditions lived on in Scotland—so it’s no wonder they play a huge part in Outlander as well. At the start of the show, Claire comes across a pagan ceremony for Samhain, the traditional start of winter, which became our Halloween. That iconic scene was also used in Outlander’s opening theme. In Men in Kilts, the pair attend a similar bonfire for Beltane, celebrated around May 1, or May Day, the traditional start of summer. “I never quite know whether these people really believe in the pagan festival or they just like a good old party where they sort of throw fire around,” McTavish says. As Heughan says, it’s a bit of both.
Claire’s herbal medicine may have worked
The Men in Kilts men met with herbalist Claire Marcello, who was a show advisor for Claire’s healing treatments on Outlander. “She uses a lot of the traditional forms of medicine that come from nature in the show,” Heughan says. “I taught her what she knew in those first few seasons,” Marcello laughs. She points out one prominent herb used on the show. “This is St. John’s Wort—this is one of the first herbs that feature in the Outlander series and it’s one of the first herbs used on Jamie Fraser,” Marcello says. “It’s a really good pain reliever…and it’s a herb used to stop bleeding.” But, she says she actually wouldn’t want to go back to Outlander times for fear of people believing she was a witch for her knowledge—as happened to Claire. “I don’t know if I would survive very easily!” she says.
Heughan shares a love of drink with his character
Set to a montage of Jamie imbibing on Outlander, McTavish grills Heughan on his drinking habits, as they head to a traditional whisky distillery. “Would you say that you are somewhat prone to overindulgence?” McTavish says. When Heughan protests, McTavish retorts, “I mean it’s daylight, the sun is out, it’s pretty early, you are basically a raging boozehound!” Sam doesn’t disagree. “Thank you very much,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. Spoken just like Jamie! For more Outlander info, watch new episodes of Men in Kilts Sunday nights Starz, or on demand on Starz.com. Get more insider details as Sam Heughan shares what he loves most about Jamie Fraser and some Outlander Season 6 scoop!
