THE NEW BBC Scotland digital channel is to host its own version of Question Time, as well as broadcast documentaries on the 2014 Independence Referendum and the 20th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament.

Although denying that aspects of the new channel’s schedule, revealed yesterday, is a direct response to criticism of the corporation’s coverage of Scotland in recent years, its channel head said he hopes its programmes respond to the “here and now” of modern Scotland.

Steve Carson, BBC Scotland’s head of multi-platform commissioning, said the channel, which will go live on 24 February at 7pm, has already commissioned more than 500 hours of new programming, including a four part drama series, Guilt, starring Mark Bonnar, and a street performer talent show hosted by the singer Emeli Sande.

The channel is also to tackle the politics of modern Scotland: Yes/No - Inside the Indyref, which has already been shot, interviews “major players” from both sides of the independence referendum in a three-part documentary.

It looks at how the Yes campaign and the Better Together campaign “developed their strategies and the drive to rally big names to their cause”, and it also looks at the role of social media in the referendum.

Children of the Devolution marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Scottish Parliament, in a series led by journalist and broadcaster Allan Little: he meets people in their 20s, 40s, and 60s to look at how their lives have been shaped by the creation of the Holyrood parliament.

It interviews “the men and women who in their sixties saw the failed 1979 referendum; the 40-somethings who came of age during the 1997 debate: and those 20 year olds who have never known a Scotland without a parliament.”

The new “Question Time”, which has yet to unveil its presenter or its title, will be a very similar format to that already on BBC One: with a panel of invited guests answering questions before a live audience.

The debate series will have a 24 week run and be broadcast from across the country with “politicians, elected officials and leaders of publicly funded bodies” as well as “leading opinion formers and commentators”.

Mr Carson said: “I’ve looked heavily at audience research, and I have kept my eyes and my ears open, and what I’ve noticed in the research is that audiences in Scotland tune into more TV than the rest of the UK, but they didn’t like it it as much, they have a lower affinity.

“What was coming through from audiences was that they didn’t see a lot of themselves, and their lives, and contemporary Scotland, on screen.

“That’s a gap, and that’s an opportunity - the channel is very much built around contemporary Scotland, the here and now, and fundamentally we are making 900 hours of new content for modern Scotland.”

A key aspect of the channel is its nightly 9pm news, a hour long news show presented by Rebecca Curran and Martin Geisler.

Mr Carson said: “That will be an important title for us, and the channel as a whole opens up more space for discussion and debate, topical talk, but first and foremost the Question Time format and the hour of news will be a big part of what the channel is about.”

He added: “We want to send the signal that with our factual slate we want to tell big stories about how the shape of Scotland came to be today.”

The channel will also feature a new arts strand called Loop, comedy including Still Game and Scot Squad, “popular factual” shows such as Getting Hitched Asian Style, a show about the 50th anniversary of Scottish Ballet, as well as a documentary about the painter Peter Howson.

Half of the shows on the channel, which has a budget of £32m, will be repeats: Mr Carson said most of the material will be recent shows, rather than archived shows from many years ago, and there is an idea to have “curated repeats” chosen by guest programmers.

Arts coverage will also include “expanded coverage of the Edinburgh Festivals”.

Mr Carson added: “Whatever happens this is about 912 new and original content for Scottish audiences, and we think that in the mix there will be something to appeal to everyone.”

Alan Clements, the veteran broadcaster, formally head of STV Productions, whose Two Rivers Media has made Children of the Devolution, said: “It is about the ability to tell stories to ourselves, about ourselves.

“If you think about the political cycle, they have been very generational in Scotland - the failure of the 1979 devolution referendum and the arrival of Mrs Thatcher was one, the election of the Blair government and the arrival of devolution in 1999 was another generation, and the movement towards an independence referendum is a third generation - the whole idea is to tell the story through people in a personal way.”