The story of a woman who was stranded by snow for a month after she popped out to buy a Christmas turkey could be made into a Hollywood film.

A company has bought the rights to the story of Kay Ure, who lives with husband John in Cape Wrath, in the extreme north west of Scotland.

Mrs Ure set out on 19 December to go to Inverness to buy festive food, but was unable to return home for 30 days.

Movie company Furst Films offered the couple £40,000 for their story.

Mrs Ure was driven by her husband 11 miles from their home in the Cape Wrath lighthouse keeper's cottage to a jetty where their boat was moored and from there they crossed the Kyle of Durness sea loch.

She then embarked on 100-mile bus journey to Inverness, where she managed to reach the shops and buy a turkey before attempting to return home - only to discover that the final 11-mile leg of the journey was blocked by snow.

She had to spend Christmas in a friend's caravan, while her husband had the company of their six dogs, and two walkers who had been passing-by.

Furst Films - whose movies include The Matador, The Cooler and The Girl In The Park - are to pay the couple for the rights to a screenplay and consultation.

"This Christmas I'm going to be better prepared, and keep the wife on a shorter lead"

Mr Ure told BBC Scotland the offer from Furst had come as a complete surprise.

He said: "We thought it was a joke until we Googled them and found out they'd won a few Golden Globes."

Mr Ure said he would like "someone with a bit of character" to play him, with his choice being Scottish actor Robert Carlyle.

But he stressed the film would be as much about the couple's lifestyle - they have no mains electricity and are forced to rely on a generator - as it was about poultry.

"It's not just about the turkey, it's about our life story and how we came to be here," he explained.

"People find it intriguing that we're living this kind of lifestyle up here but we're used to it and it's a pleasant way to live."

He said he hoped the film would help bring some business to their small cafe, which is one of Britain's most remote eateries.

"We've only had one customer since Christmas and they only wanted coffee and snacks, but we expect business to pick up in May," he told BBC Scotland.

The couple are already planning for this year's festive period, with Mr Ure joking: "This Christmas I'm going to be better prepared, and keep the wife on a shorter lead." </p

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Pop singer and musical star Darius Campbell has won the final of ITV1's Popstar to Operastar contest.

The 29-year-old former Pop Idol contestant, who was known as Darius Danesh, beat Bernie Nolan, of the Nolan Sisters, in the final.

The Scottish singer, whose hits include Colourblind, sung an aria from The Marriage Of Figaro and performed a duet with his mentor Rolando Villazon.

Other contestants included Blur bassist Alex James and Jimmy Osmond.

Coronation Street actress and former Hear'Say band member Kym Marsh and Marcella Detroit of 90s duo Shakespears Sister were knocked out of the contest at the semi-final stage.

Campbell, from Bearsden near Glasgow, rose to fame after finishing third on talent show Pop Idol in 2002.

He has more recently appeared in West End musicals, playing Billy Flynn in Chicago.</p

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During a career with the BBC which spanned almost 50 years, Bill McLaren became without doubt the best known and most widely respected commentator in world rugby.

His voice came to represent the sport in the same way that Murray Walker did for Formula One or Harry Carpenter did for boxing.

A talented flanker in his youth, he served with the Royal Artillery during World War II and had later been on the verge of a full Scotland cap when he contracted tuberculosis, which almost killed him.

"I was desperately ill and fading fast when the specialist asked five of us to be guinea pigs for a new drug called Streptomycin," he once recalled.

"Three of the others died but I made what amounted to a miracle recovery."

McLaren's first commentary was made while convalescing from TB, describing table tennis matches for the hospital radio.

As a child, he had copied the voices of the rugby commentators he heard on the radio, and wrote fictional accounts of matches which always saw Scotland triumph over the rest of the world.

Instantly recognisable

His career progressed rapidly, and he made his national debut for BBC radio in 1953, when Scotland were beaten 12-0 by Wales, before switching to television six years later.

The depth of McLaren's research became legendary, and he would spend days watching teams train in the week before a match, and then spend nights practising with his own special packet of cards.

His voice was instantly recognisable, and generations of rugby fans grew up listening to a man they believed to be fair, knowledgeable, and a lover of the game.

Among the personal highlights of his career were the commentary for Scotland's Grand Slam victory over England at Murrayfield in 1990.

While his voice was almost operatic in its clarity and range as he described his son-in-law Alan Lawson scoring against England in 1976, when he managed to convey the excitement of the moment without bias, as only he could.

He combined his commentating with working as a physical education teacher in his hometown of Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, where he had been born in 1923.

By the time he retired from teaching in 1987, he had coached several players who went on to play for Scotland, including Jim Renwick, Colin Deans and Tony Stanger.

The committed family man lived in Hawick with his wife Bette, whom he had met on a blind date at in the town's hall in 1947.

The couple famously used to play 18 holes of golf together every day, while McLaren claimed that every day out of Hawick "was a day wasted".

After a distinguished career, McLaren retired in 2002. His final commentary was Scotland's match with Wales, when the crowd sang For He's a Jolly Good Fellow in his honour.

He became the first non-international rugby player to be inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, and was awarded the CBE, OBE and MBE.

But despite an internet campaign, he was never knighted for his services to the game he loved.</p

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