Character set to chase Still Game's success

Rab C. Nesbitt is set to follow Still Game with a run of live shows at Glasgow’s Hydro.

Creator Ian Pattison said he wanted to put the character on the stage where he would have a freedom that was denied to him on TV.

He told the Glasgow Herald had recently met up with director Colin Gilbert to discuss the stage comeback, saying: ‘It was enjoyable to talk. It was the way things used to be before the frustrations of TV bureaucracy intervened.

‘Nesbitt was a show that liked to romp in the clover but corporate nervousness over the last couple of years tended to ankle tag its freedoms. Stage traditionally offers more licence.’

Portrayed by Gregor Fisher, Rab C. Nesbitt began life as part of 1980s sketch show Naked Video, and after a pilot episode in 1988 became a hit sitcom, running for eight series from 1990 to 1999 and attracting up to four million viewers.  After a near decade-long break, another special sparked two more series in 2010 and 2011; and it was last seen with a Hogmanay special early in 2014.

Pattison added: ‘Bringing Rab back on stage was first talked about a couple of years ago. Back then, we were all doing other things. However, the clock is ticking louder, we’re all growing older and we don’t have time to defer our readiness.’

No dates for Rab C. Nesbitt at the Hydro have yet been confirmed. The comedy, which also stars Elaine C.Smith, Tony Roper and Barbara Rafferty, previously ran as a stage show in 1992.

Published: 11 Oct 2016