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 The story of the Dobsons family from the English midlands who gave up the rat race and bought a Scottish Castle to make into a dream home is to be turned into a Hollywood movie. American film giant Buena Vista is to finance a film showing their ill-fated attempt at communal living in a dilapidated stately home in the Highlands.
Their exploits were followed by millions of TV viewers in a fly-on-the-wall documentary as the 17-strong family set up home in the run-down Duncraig Castle, which they planned to turn into bed and breakfast accomodation after pooling their savings to buy it for half a million pounds.
Life in rural Scotland proved tough for the Dobsons in a draughty castle with no central heating, no working lavatory, ancient electrics and dodgy plumbing. Eventually, ten of the family returned to inner-city life because they found communal living in a decaying castle was harder than they had expected
Eileen Quinn, an American who produced the BBC documentary, is heading up the project, with script being overseen by Heidi Thomas. The Disney subsidiary and film distributor Buena Vista will finance the movie.
Quinn says the film will have something of the flavour of Calendar Girls and confirms the link with the Disney off-shoot.
 STORY OPTIONED
“We have optioned the story rights and Buena Vista are the company behind it,” said Quinn. “When you are an independent producer you don’t tend to fund movies. We are developing the script for Buena Vista, who are the film financiers. What struck me is that it’s a story about a family and, as the documentary showed, there is an interest in that.”
Grade C-listed Duncraig Castle was built in 1866 by opium trader-turned-banker Sir Alexander Matheson,. It became a naval hospital during the Second World War and then became a domestic science college before being left in trust to the local council, which put it up for sale in 2002.
PROPERTY DEVELOPER STRIKES
Samuel Dobson, a property developer, and his wife Perlin spotted an advertisement for the castle and persuaded his brothers, Greg and Duncan, and Brian, his brother-in-law, to come in on the deal. They were joined by Greg’s girlfriend Elfine, Duncan’s girlfriend Lorraine, Brian’s wife Lisa, his parents, Alan and Sybil, and seven children.
It cost just over £500,000 to buy the castle, with its 37-acre estate, private beach, two islands and a railway station. Television viewers followed the story avidly, but it became clear that having managed to buy the castle, the Dobsons had neither the means nor the wherewithal to transform a run-down stately pile into the dream home they were looking for. Only Samuel, Perlin, Milly, their daughter, Samuel’s parents, his sister Lisa and her husband Brian still remain at the castle, along with Ray, their handyman.
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