WHAT was once Scotland's largest documentary film production company was facing liquidation yesterday.

A petition has been presented to the Court of Session by the advocate general for Scotland on behalf of the Inland Revenue commissioners seeking an order winding up Lamancha Productions Ltd and the appointment of a liquidator.

Lamancha began life almost 20 years ago as a video publishing house producing work recognised as worthy of an Emmy nomination.

It went on to have a tilt at the big screen, its contributions, however, making less of an impression on the critics.

Its credits include a controversial remake of Macbeth starring Jason Connery, son of Sir Sean, and Helen Baxendale.

Lamancha's diversification into feature films also led to involvement with The Bruce, whose cast included the late Oliver Reed, and Chasing The Deer, the much-criticised story of the Jacobite rebellion starring Brian Blessed.

The firm's registered office is said to be Lamancha House at Lamancha, near West Linton, Peeblesshire, where its creator David McWhinnie lives.

Mr McWhinnie, a former record label graphic designer who worked with Bob Marley and Paul McCartney, put the telephone down on The Herald when contacted at the seventeenth-century mansion.

The three low-budget films were financed by money raised through public subscription. Chasing the Deer attracted 298 subscribers who each invested (pounds) 1000 in the venture.

The film attracted hostility from critics, one of whom described it as ''a clumsy, hand-knitted, attempt at movie-making''.

Macbeth - which was filmed at Dunfermline Abbey, Balvaird Castle at Auchtermuchty in Fife, and Blackness Castle on the Firth of Forth, and premiered in 1996 - was said to be the ''most Scottish version'' of the Scots play.

A tape of the film was specially flown to Aberdeen so that local councillors could give it a screening certificate.

The Bruce, the tale of Robert the Bruce and his fight to win Scotland independence from the English, was premiered in Paisley Town Hall in the mid- 90s.

Lamancha Productions was set up in Leith Walk in Edinburgh in 1985 by Mr McWhinnie, a Motherwell-born self-made businessman.

Lamancha concentrated on making factually-based programmes on twentieth-century history from archive material, its first video series Decades covering the 20s to the 50s.

Its Battlefield series featuring such conflicts as Stalingrad, Berlin, Normandy, and Midway, proved a worldwide success clinching large television sales deals at Cannes.

It was bought by America's Public Broadcast Service (PBS) for prime-time screening and was in line for an Emmy award.

Among the many documentaries Lamancha was responsible for were Blitzkrieg and an Early History of Aviation

One outcome of Mr McWhinnie's regular trips to the United States were one-hour features on gangsters such as Al Capone and Dillinger.

Another of the 53-year-old's projects was The Occult History of the Third Reich, investigating the link between the Nazis and the supernatural.

The four-hour series, which was released by Columbia Tri-Star, was said to show how what became the occult philosophy of National Socialism was a blend of mystic Eastern teaching, Germanic folklore, and twisted ''racial hygiene''.

Lamancha Productions sold material in 20 countries and its soundtracks were translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish and Portuguese.

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh Film Focus said last night: ''We're sad to see this production company disappearing.''

The Inland Revenue in Scotland said it was unable to comment on the petition.