Sir Neil MacCormick has special reason to be among the first to see the new film Stone of Destiny - to watch Robert Carlyle portray his father, John MacCormick, one of the founders of the SNP.

However, the 67-year-old will miss the gala screenings as he is virtually confined to his house by cancer. Instead, the cinema will come to him, as director Charles Martin Smith has arranged to visit him at his home in Edinburgh to watch a special advance DVD copy of the film.

Mr Smith, who flew in from North America at the end of last week, will make the private trip ahead of the public opening of the film on Friday.

Mr Smith said the four nationalist students who "retrieved" the legendary Scottish coronation stone from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950 "idolised" John MacCormick.

"It's really only because of him that this ever happened, so I am just delighted to be able to show it to his son," he said.

Sir Neil, 67, who followed his father into politics and was an SNP MEP, said: "It will be fascinating to see Robert Carlyle's portrayal of him. He has something of the same presence and something of the same alertness of look.

"I am interested in the whole story. I was quite tied up in it as a child at the time."

Sir Neil, who was professor of Public Law at Edinburgh University, vividly remembers the day the Stone of Destiny was taken, although he was only nine. "My father came through and said we had better listen to the wireless news, and the top story was about the Stone of Destiny. Always on Christmas Day we had the big extended family round in our house, aunts, uncles and cousins and so on, and there was great cheering."

The Stone of Destiny's removal from Westminster made headlines around the world and police closed the Scottish border. It was returned the following year. No-one was prosecuted.

John MacCormick was one of the founders of the National Party of Scotland in 1928 and led them into a merger with the Scottish Party in 1934, establishing the Scottish National Party.