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Still Game

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Still Game is a spin-off sitcom of the Scottish sketch show series Chewin' the Fat, telling the tales of two old Glaswegian men named Jack and Victor and their local community. Created by Chewin' the Fat's Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill (who also play lead characters Jack and Victor), the series is set in a fictional district of Glasgow called Craiglang. The Maryhill area of Glasgow has been used as the location for filming, so features of Maryhill including the Forth and Clyde Canal and its locks are frequently shown in the background of outdoor shots.

For the first three series, Still Game was shown on BBC One Scotland at 9:30pm, and enjoyed huge viewing audiences, once being watched by half the Scottish population. It first aired six episodes in 2002, then nine in 2003, six in 2004 and six in 2005.

Still Game's fourth series was shown nationally on BBC Two at 10:00pm on Fridays. This was a change from the previous seasons which were on BBC One Scotland. Despite now being on BBC Two (considered by some as a channel of minority interest in the UK) this is actually a step up for the show due to its vast popularity in Scotland as it is now shown across the UK instead of on BBC One Scotland, which is not broadcast in the rest of the UK. Shortly after Series 4 was released on DVD, creators Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill revealed that the show had been getting higher viewing figures each week for the whole of the six-week run.

On December 28 2005, the Still Game Christmas Special was shown on BBC One at 10:30pm, the first national broadcast of the show on BBC One.

Origins

Still Game was originally a stage play featuring Jack, Victor and Winston. In this story, the lift has broken down and the three old men are stranded in Victor's flat, where they discuss a variety of subjects ranging from death to sex and generally argue with each other. Winston also attracts the attention of a few local neds and Jack discovers Victor's hidden stash of cash. The stage play toured Scotland, England, Ireland and Canada and was performed for the last time in Glasgow where it was filmed and released on video. It's also notable for its incredibly foul language. (With certain words beginning with "F" and "C" throughout) Gavin Mitchell originally played Winston but was replaced with Paul Riley for later performances. Ironically Gavin now plays the part of Bobby the Barman in the TV series. TV series characters Tam and Isa are also mentioned in the play. (With Isa described as being bald!) Notably, Winston refers to his Home Help catching him dancing in the bookies, which happens in the TV series a few years later.

The characters were then featured in Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill's series Chewin' the Fat. Nearly every episode of Chewin' The Fat featured Jack, Victor, Tam and Winston singing in the pub, usually accompanied later in the show with another sketch featuring Jack and Victor only. (With the exception of the 2000 Hogmanay Special which featured Winston and Tam, and a Series 4 episode where Winston bought a new "Dobaly Surroundy Sound Telly" and tried to show it off to Jack and Victor) By the time Still Game had its own 30 minute show, Winston's appearance had drastically changed, but was still played by Paul Riley. As the show has progressed characters like Winston, Isa the local gossip and Navid the Shopkeeper have become more popular and therefore given more screen time making Jack and Victor less important (but still the central characters).

Episode Guide

In the first three series, the episode titles were all Scots words that were related to the episode. This was changed to standard English titles for Series 4 so that the national audiences could understand the titles.

Series 1 (2002) - "Flittin'", "Faimly", "Cauld", "Courtin'", "Waddin'", "Scones"

Series 2 (2003) - "Gairden", "Wummin'", "Doactors", "Brief", "Tappin'", "Scran", "Shooglies", "Buntin'", "Dug"

Series 3 (2004) - "Hoaliday", "Swottin'", "Cairds", "Big Yin", "Oot", "Aff"

Series 4 (2005) - "Kill Wullie", "Wireless", "Dial-A-Bus", "Ring", "Hatch", "Who's The Daddy?", "Cold Turkey" (Christmas Special)

Characters

Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade - Jack and Victor have been friends for 60 years (since childhood) and now live on the same floor of Osprey Heights, their tower block. Both Jack and Victor are widowers, losing their wives Jean and Betty over ten years ago respectively. They don't see much of their families anymore. Jack's daughter Fiona lives near Toronto, Canada, with her husband Tony and her two sons Jack and Steven. Victor's son John lives in Johannesburg with his family.

Winston Ingram - Winston is always scheming to make some money. Sometimes this is as simple as a bet at the bookies and sometimes it takes the form of less honest means of trying to make his life a little bit more comfortable. We know he used to work in the Clyde shipyards, at one time in Yarrows of Scotstoun as this was mentioned in the Series 2 episode "Scran". His 80-a-day cigarette habit led to him losing his right leg at the end of the third series. He has a daughter and two grandchildren (that we know of). In "Dug" and "Hoaliday", he had a relationship with Isa. In the stage play he talks about a brother living in Nevada.

Tam Mullen - Tam can be a bit of an old miser at times. A really sneaky and jammy git too. He is always conning people into giving him stuff or buying him a drink. He got married in "Ring" (Series 4) to Frances, the local librarian.

Isa Drennan - Isa is another resident of Osprey Heights, she is the local gossip and will stop at nothing in her quest to find out the latest tidbits and then share the news with everyone. Isa also works as a cleaner in Navid's shop. She has a son, Colin. Isa was also married to a man called Harry, who left her and stole money from her. He returned in "Scones" (Series 1), apparently changed, but eventually does the same thing again. He then returned again in "Dug" (Series 2), but was given a much less warmer welcome by Isa, who told him that they were finished. It was revealed in "Scones" that Isa has a crush on the late Richard Whiteley. In "Dug" and "Hoaliday", she had a relationship with Winston.

Navid Harrid - Navid runs the local shop with his soap-loving wife Meena. Navid is full of witty one-liners but has to put up with Meena's nagging at him almost constantly. He is a Muslim who laments the fact that his religion forbids the consumption of alcohol. Meena doesn't speak English very often so her lines are sub-titled meaning Navid is often the only person in the shop who knows what she is moaning about...or that she is moaning at all. Meena's face is never seen, as a tribute to Maris Crane from Frasier. They have a daughter who got married in Series One. In the final episode of Series 4, a man who is supposedly Navid's son is seen. (Also played by Sanjeev Kohli) It is possible that the name of Navid's shop 'Harrid's' is a play on words of 'Harrods'

Boabby the Barman - Boabby is the landlord of "The Clansman", which is the local pub. Bobby isn't a believer of the phrase "The customer is always right" and prefers to hand out snide comments with his pints, not that the locals are the type of people to take them lying down. He always has a new nickname for Jack and Victor whenever they enter The Clansman, but J&V always come back with a comment that puts Bobby in his place.

Semi Recurring Characters

Manky Frankie - Frankie, or as he is known to the local community, Manky Frankie, lives near Jack and Victor. His flat is festooned with various items that would be regarded as junk by anyone else. He has a penchant for dismantling cars and leaving the parts lying about, especially in the landing.

Shug - Shug, who has extremely large ears seems to be a self proclaimed expert in radios and sound waves. Jack and Victor take an answerphone message across to him so that he can try and find out what part of the message said that was obscured. He succeeds in identifying practically everything else.

Pete the Jakey - Pete the Jakey is a familiar sight to residents of Craiglang. Ignored by many, he seems to have always been about. Jack and Victor can't seem to remember a time when he wasn't an alcoholic tramp. It's later revealed that he was the father of the property developer who wanted to demolish The Clansman.

Cast

Main Characters

Guest Stars

  • Sylvester McCoy played a local man named Archie who had become a recluse in the episode "Oot".
  • Billy Boyd played a young man who Jack and Victor spoke to in a train station in the episode "Faimly".
  • Celia Imrie played Mrs Begg, a woman who worked as Winston's home help when he falsely claimed disability from the council in the episode "Wummin'".
  • Clive Russell played the part of "Big Innes", a very large friend of Jack and Victor who comes down from Elgin to to sort out the local hooligans as a favour to them. Big Innes loves drinking Midori even though it has a strange effect on him. This was in the episode "Big Yin".
  • Robbie Coltrane played Davie, a disturbed Dial-A-Bus driver in the episode "Dial-A-Bus".

Goofs

In the credits of seasons 1-3, Navid was listed as 'Navid Ingram', which is Winston's surname. This has been removed in season 4.

In one episode, Jack and Victor tell Barbara from the charity shop that they are from 'Craigbank', a real area in Glasgow, instead of the fictional area of 'Craiglang' where the show is set..

In the episode "Big Yin", Jack and Victor mention the character of Big Innes to Navid, they say he was before Navid's time and lived in Craiglang up until about 15 years ago. Yet in the episode 'Oot' when Isa is giving a rundown of past events to Archie the Hermit, when the year 1974 appears you can see what is obviously meant to be a young Navid.

In "Flittin'", Victor says that his son who lives in Johannesburg is called Jamie. He's actually called John.

In one episode, Jack and Victor spend a day in Glasgow City Centre. When returning on the bus, they decide to pay a visit to the Glasgow Transport Museum. However, the shot of Jack and Victor getting off the bus indicates that it's actually heading from Partick INTO the City Centre.

In that same episode, when Jack and Victor get off the bus at the Transport Museum, you can clearly see when the University buildings are shown in the background that it is a pleasant dry day, but when the scenes on the museum steps are shown, it is dull and raining.

Trivia

  • Billy Boyd introduced the sitcom to his Lord of the Rings co-stars Sean Astin, Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan whilst filming in 2002 - they really liked it and now count themselves as fans of the show.
  • Sean Connery saw the original play at the Edinburgh Festival, and said to them that if they ever made it into a sitcom, he wanted to play the role of Winston. However, when the sitcom started, he declined, and the role went to Paul Riley instead. He is still interested in the show, though, and Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill still send him the DVDs every year.
  • For the first three series of the show, a real pub was used to film the exterior shots of The Clansman. However, between series three and four, the owner of the pub tore the building down, so for the fourth series the Clansman exterior had to be built on a set in Dumbarton the same lot where River City is filmed.
  • The first three series were given a 12 certificate by the BBFC when they were released on DVD, but the fourth series was the first to be given a 15 certificate because of explicit sexual references and drug use.
  • The DVD release of the Fourth series does not use the normal title music at the beginning of each episode, for some reason it has been changed.
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