IF THERE was ever any doubt that the Ross-Brand "Sachsgate" scandal has changed the way the BBC operates, then they can be quickly answered by a chat with acclaimed Scottish filmmaker Peter Barber-Fleming.

Barber-Fleming's company Saltire Films has just finished a three-part observational documentary about top Scottish private school Glenalmond College. After delivering the programme to BBC Scotland's Pacific Quay headquarters, Saltire received a surprise phone call from commissioner Ewan Angus.

Could they not do something about the swearing, Angus asked?

But all the offensive words had already been bleeped out, answered the filmmakers.

Yes, but the audience can still lip read.

So Barber-Fleming, a 56-year-old former Glenalmond pupil (or "OG") who now lives in Dunblane, sent for the films and any offending mouths were duly digitally "smudged".

Says Barber-Fleming: "Ewan was very apologetic, and said that four weeks ago we wouldn't have had to do it, but in the current climate there didn't have to be many complaints made at all for people's jobs to be on the line."

The fact that Glenalmond - founded in 1847 by the ultra-pious William Ewart Gladstone for the sons of clergymen - should be associated with "watershed" issues might raise eyebrows. The first episode of Pride And Privilege - broadcast at 9pm on Tuesday on BBC 2 with a pre-watershed version shown at 7pm the following evening - contains a solitary profanity. The figure rises to 16 for the second episode.

BBC Scotland's linguistic purge is ironic because the observational documentary, or at least the first of the three hour-long sections the Sunday Herald has seen, presents a picture that is innocuously pleasant by the standards of this sensation-drunk age.

Although Barber-Fleming points out that the second episode features some disturbing bullying of the one 100% scholarship student at the £24,000-per-year school and the third episode includes a teacher openly questioning academic standards, the first episode rolls along at a gentle pace revealing little more than teenagers being teenagers, albeit in the beautiful surroundings of rural Perthshire.

Where, for instance, are the self-proclaimed Glenalmond "toffs" who provoked ironic headlines with their notorious "chav hunt" video that became a YouTube sensation just before filming started?

Says Barber-Fleming: "I made it absolutely plain from the beginning that this was not going to be a spin job but we would not be digging looking for difficulties, nonsense or misbehaviour. I wanted to make an impartial series that reflected life at Glenalmond and, in a wider sense, life at public schools "As the films progress, the questions about class and privilege are there and we're not making great statements as a film company. The questions are out there for the audiences to make up their own minds. We do film moments where we see class attitudes coming from the pupils in a way that is not particularly desirable or sensible. Similarly, what does come through, whether privileged or not, is there are some really nice people that come through those systems."

Director Stephen Bennett adds: "The chav-hunting story broke just before we started filming. One of the boys talks about when he first arrived he had a Scottish accent and was called a chav. We follow one boy who has come from a state school and you wonder whether he will be faced by the same dilemma - will he have to change his accent?"

Although it is Bennett who has done most of the hands-on filming, it appears that the Glenalmond project is Barber-Fleming's baby. Indeed, Bennett says he was initially sceptical about the idea, mainly because of the commitment of a year's worth of 15-hour shooting days away from his young children. It was Barber-Fleming who was responsible for negotiating access, and it will be his phone that rings if teachers or pupils are unhappy with what they see.

Gordon Woods, warden - headmaster - of Glenalmond College, strikes a positive, if somewhat wary, note on the film: "We are pleased the filmmakers have generally managed to avoid reinforcing stereotypes and have shown that many of the issues our pupils face are the same as those faced by teenagers wherever they go to school.

"The film was never intended to be fully representative of a year in the life of Glenalmond College; inevitably it is only a snapshot of a busy school."

Barber-Fleming looks the type who could take a bad reaction from the school to heart. In his own words, the affable, grey-haired filmmaker has "been around the block a few times". A contract director for Scottish television in the 1970s and early 1980s, he was one of the first directors to work with Taggart writer Glenn Chandler on the show and has also directed or produced Casualty, The Bill and Poirot.

Barber-Fleming set up his own film company, Saltire, in 2000 and has specialised in drama and documentary. His last major piece for BBC Scotland - also directed by Bennett - was the extraordinary documentary filmed in so-called "bad boys" school Ballikinrain, outside Glasgow. Saltire was the first company ever to receive permission to film in a residential school of this type. Again, personal links helped: Barber-Fleming's mother used to work there.

That film received good reviews, and it is hoped the Glenalmond films will receive a network broadcast slot on BBC 4 as part of a Scotland series. However, Barber-Fleming says things are far from idyllic in the broadcasting world.

Despite the attentions of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission, programme-making in Scotland is still very far from being out of the woods. Although the BBC has pledged to spend far more money making network programmes in Scotland, it has told programme makers it will not be commissioning any new BBC Scotland work until the beginning of the next financial year in April. Others say STV will only look at a project if the programme maker has managed to find a commercial sponsor to pay the costs.

Barber-Fleming prefers to look ahead: "I have been around long enough to see the pendulum come and go. We're working hard to make sure we're in the right place when the pendulum swings back."