Development and launch

In 2000, BBC Scotland were in talks of launching its own serial drama for Scotland.^[1] With the success of the BBC's other soap operas EastEnders and Holby City, which was launched the year before, the Corporation opened to independent producers but later decided to open an in-house bid.^[1] The BBC invited Stephen Greenhorn, who had finished working on the Glasgow Kiss for the BBC that year, to help develop the soap.^[2]

When deciding where to set the new soap, the BBC thought Glasgow was the "obvious option" but were worried it was too overexposed and they were looking at other locations.^[1] Greenhorn suggested Edinburgh, but the BBC raised concerns that setting it in Edinburgh "wouldn't connect emotionally". The only other urban cities left were Dundee and Aberdeen, but these were ruled out. He thought setting it in the likes of Stirling "simply wouldn't work".^[1] Greenhorn had spent a lot of time in Leith writing a story about the opening of the Scottish Parliament so he suggested the port district as the setting as he believed it shared similarities to Glasgow. The BBC loved the idea and asked for Greenhorn to begin work on writing a new drama.^[3]

It took six months for Greenhorn to write a 50- to 60-page 'document' about the new soap.^[1] The soap was to be set in Leith and titled The Shore.^[1] Although the BBC were impressed, they thought the right setting for the show was to be in the west of Scotland, essentially in Glasgow. This set Greenhorn back as he had already begun developing characters and producing storylines, but they didn't fit into the social classes and lifestyle of the city.^[1] Before he could rewrite his proposals, Greenhorn has to deicide where in Glasgow, the soap would be set. He settled for Whiteinch just on the north banks of the River Clyde.^[1]

His original commission for the soap only covered the first three episodes, however, Greenhorn planned to stick around to help contribute to what he hoped would become a Scottish household soap opera.^[4] He also wanted to stick around to help the soap become a "drama factory" to open doors to actors, writers and crews to get into the television industry.^[4] BBC Scotland began building a purpose-built backlot, studio facility and office accommodation on an old whisky and vodka bottling plant in Dumbarton. This would be the setting for the show and helped for the BBC to build Shieldinch from scratch.^[4]

The soap's title, The Shore, was dropped by the BBC and Greenhorn suggested simply calling it Sheildinch, but this was rejected. In a brainstorming session, the final decision was River City People, although this was later shortened to River City.^[4] The BBC kept the name of the new soap opera a secret until its inception, simply referring it to as the Scottish Soap.^[5]

The first episode aired on Tuesday 24 September 2002 on BBC One Scotland. On the same day, the Manchester United played in the United's Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen. Over 700,000 viewers tuned into the first episode of River City.

The show was branded "River Shitty" in its early days.^[6]

2010s

In November 2017, a short crossover episode of the show was made for Children in Need and featured several of the show's characters meeting characters from Scottish sitcom Scot Squad.^[7]

2020s

In March 2020, production of River City was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and filming recommenced in August 2020.^[8] In place of new episodes, a select number of "classic" episodes were aired.^[9]

In February 2022, it was announced the cast were back filming another series. In March of the same year, the show returned to its original broadcast pattern of two half-hour episodes a week. After a break which started in August 2023, the show returned in October with a new format. Starting in October, each year's output will be three 11-week runs of 2 episodes.