The Botanic Gardens in Glasgow has long been a favourite city spot for showcasing the works of Shakespeare.

Next month, another Bill takes centre stage, as the movies of one of our most famous film directors are shown in the venue’s outdoor cinema.

Bill in the Botanics will feature the classic Bill Forsyth movies That Sinking Feeling, Comfort and Joy, Gregory’s Girl and Local Hero in an event organised by Byres Road and Lanes Business Improvement District.

This is inspired. These films are movie gold. There should be a Bill Forsyth season every year.

I have laughed and cried over them all countless times and I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like them.

The first time I saw Gregory’s Girl I couldn’t believe someone had made a film about people like me and my friends.

(It could have been me and my friends, in fact – I heard a story that the film-makers had approached council bosses in my home town of East Kilbride but they had knocked them back and opted to make the movie in fellow New Town Cumbernauld. Grr. What a missed opportunity. We could all have been extras! It could have been filmed in my school! Or even IN MY HOUSE!)

This searingly honest tale of unrequited love, awkward teenage romance and the ups and downs of friendship struck a real chord with those of us going through our own versions of all of the above around the same time.

Likewise, Local Hero, another Forsyth classic, makes my heart ache. It was so 80s, so of its time – all about greed vs community spirit – and yet, as in turns out, so timeless. (And in some ways, ahead of its time, as it was one of the first movies to tackle themes of ecology and big business.)

Who’d have thought we’d still be talking about, and if you are one of my friends, still quoting from these movies, 30-odd years later? All of the films, but particularly those two, are full of little gems – who can forget the dancing-lying-down scene in Gregory’s Girl, or Chic Murray, just being brilliant, as Gregory’s head teacher, or the injured rabbit and the heartbreaking, anti-Hollywood ending of Local Hero?

The movies made a big impression on me which has never ebbed away - if you’d told my teenage self I would one day get the chance to meet Clare Grogan I think I’d have fainted. (It was so hard not to turn into a weird fan girl around her. But it’s true. We all wanted to BE her when we were growing up.)

I wasn’t alone - even mentioning the movies sparked some great chat amongst my friends. Whatever the reasons for the enduring success of these simple, sweet Scottish films, I’m just glad to get a chance to laugh and cry over them on the big screen all over again.