BBC Scotland has been castigated by one of the nation’s distinguished academic historians over its showpiece documentary series about the country’s past, which he characterised as “a mediocre B-movie”.

According to Professor Tom Devine the scripts of A History of Scotland are “lame, boring and flaccid” and its “hapless, long-haired presenter”, Neil Oliver, suffers from “a sad lack of personal authority or presence”.

The series, Professor Devine claimed, is fatally imbalanced, with only three of its ten programmes devoted to the making of modern Scotland, while some of the most important issues — the Enlightenment and the Scottish diaspora — are, he said, almost entirely ignored.

Aside from these shortcomings — and with the proviso that the series has a predictable narrative style — the documentaries “could not have been more timely”, said Professor Devine, who is head of the school of history, classics and archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.

Professor Devine based his remarks, made in a television review, on episodes from the documentary’s first five-part series, and the opening episode of series two, which he had been sent on DVD by the BBC, along with production notes for forthcoming episodes.

The result, he concluded, was “a profound disappointment and a missed opportunity”.

Oliver, who has a 2:1 in archaeology from the University of Glasgow, did not pull his punches as he hit back at his august critic, characterising Professor Devine as “a silly old fool”, though he denied he had been upset by the personal tone of the attack.

“Tom specialises in a very narrow range of Scottish history,” said Oliver.

“His business is lecturing students in a classroom and he doesn’t know anything about how to make a television series.

“I could not be less interested in what a plump old man thinks about my physical appearance. His thoughts won’t distract me for more than a nanosecond.

“To go on at greater length would be like hunting a domesticated cow with a high-powered rifle and a telescopic sight. I’m just not inclined to torment him further.”

Professor Alan Macinnes, of Strathclyde University, resigned from the programme’s advisory board after its first meeting, saying the series was flawed and “Anglocentric”.

The show was nominated for a Scottish Bafta, and won 1.6 million viewers. A spokesman for the BBC praised Oliver’s “passion and vigour” in presenting the series and added: “Professor Devine is, as ever, entitled to his opinions but the vast majority of the feedback we had on the first five parts pay their own testament.”

Times Recommends

• Fern Britton: 'I still can't see that I was wrong'
• Extreme cooking
• Easy French: Tarte Tatin