Reprieve for Scotland's under-threat mobile cinema

A mobile cinema, which takes films into rural communities across the Highlands and Islands, has been given a reprieve after new funding was secured.

The Screen Machine service has been in operation for 25 years.

It was due to be taken off the road next month because the lease on the current vehicle was coming to an end.

But operator Regional Screen Scotland has secured £350,000 funding to keep it going another two years.

The charity is still trying to raise £1.4m needed to build a new custom-built mobile cinema.

In January it emerged Oscar-winner Dame Judi Dench had written to First Minister Humza Yousaf to highlight children's concerns about the future of the service.

Pupils at Castlebay Community School in Barra asked for her help in raising awareness about the situation, and she passed on their worries to the first minister.

The Scottish government said Mr Yousaf had received Dame Judi's letter and would reply in due course.

It added that last year it provided £176,000 to keep the mobile cinema operating on a temporary service.