Nobody told Glasgow to think small. The Commonwealth Games opening ceremony on Wednesday night delivered exactly the kind of spectacular, gloriously daft spectacle that only Britain could dream up, and only Scotland could pull off with a straight face.
King Charles III made his grand entrance not via the usual motorcade or red-carpeted walkway, but by stepping out of a full-sized Tardis, the iconic blue police box from Doctor Who. The crowd inside the Scottish Event Campus erupted. It was the sort of moment that makes you wonder who exactly is writing the script for this country, and whether they’re absolutely fine.
But the King’s time-travelling arrival was only the opening act. Moments later, a enormous Loch Ness Monster glided across the stage, because of course it did. The creature, which looked to be around 20 feet long and operated by a team of performers, drew gasps and laughter in equal measure from the 8,000-strong crowd in attendance.
Charles, 75, appeared visibly delighted by the whole thing, laughing and applauding as the ceremony unfolded around him. It was a far cry from the stiff formality that these events can sometimes fall into, and that was clearly the point.
“Glasgow always brings the energy,” one spectator outside the venue said, still buzzing an hour after the show had ended. “But that Tardis thing? Nobody saw that coming.”
The ceremony, produced by a team of over 200 creatives, leaned hard into Scottish mythology, pop culture, and a thread of self-deprecating humour that felt genuinely earned rather than forced. Nessie and the Tardis aren’t exactly subtle symbols, but they worked precisely because the production committed to them fully.
Around 5,000 athletes from 56 nations and territories will compete across the Games, with events running until 7 August. Scotland is hosting for the second time, having previously welcomed the Commonwealth back in 2014.
If the opening night is anything to go by, the organisers aren’t in the business of playing it safe. Whether the rest of the Games can keep pace with a ceremony that featured a time-travelling monarch and a prehistoric lake monster remains to be seen.
