British Comedy Guide

Rab's back on the telly...and he's not so smelly

Most people will have heard about the proposed Chirstmas Special of Rab C. Nesbitt, apparently the character has undergone a change since we saw him last, he has given up drink, found religion and has also discovered how to use an oven, his wife Mary now has her own cleaning business. I'm looking foward to it.

Sounds like sacrilege to me.

I just never found that character funny. Probably because he's common.

I never found the character funny because I didn't think he was funny. In fact I disliked the show a great deal.

Quote: Daniel O'Rourke @ November 18 2008, 12:16 AM GMT

Most people will have heard about the proposed Chirstmas Special of Rab C. Nesbitt, apparently the character has undergone a change since we saw him last, he has given up drink, found religion and has also discovered how to use an oven, his wife Mary now has her own cleaning business. I'm looking foward to it.

Rab was good fun back in the day but with all these proposed changes it just wont be Rab, and no word of Jamesy?

'Razor fight!'

Well Jamesie is still on the drink so who knows what will happen to Rab when he is faced with temptation?

''That breaks new fronteirs in garbage''

It may well begin with a new-style Rab, but I can't see that lasting.

Loved the show, but struggling to think of an example of a show revived after a long lay-off that did not desecrate the memory.

Okay, WHTTLL but that wasn't that long a lay-off.

Yeah, how long has it been since Rab was around though? 10 years? It was 7 years between the last series of Sykes And A and the first series of Sykes. Which although different, unlinked programmes, were similar enough to count in this case.

And Steptoe & Son actually improved after its 5-year hiatus!

Didn't the little bloke who played his son, go to prison, for kiddie-fiddling?

He did go to prison I believe, yes. Don't know about the crime though. Also have a suspicion he may have died since.

Quote: David Bussell @ November 19 2008, 8:45 AM GMT

I just never found that character funny. Probably because he's common.

Laughing out loud Laughing out loud Laughing out loud Laughing out loud Bussell you are a snob sometimes. With a silent S.

Quote: Aaron @ November 21 2008, 12:54 AM GMT

He did go to prison I believe, yes. Don't know about the crime though. Also have a suspicion he may have died since.

He did. I looked it up and found this:

"Eric Robertson Cullen (12 July 1965 — 16 August 1996) was a Scottish actor with achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism. He was most famous for his role as Wee Burney in Rab C Nesbitt. He was born to a single mother and was adopted by a family from Hamilton. He was diagnosed with achondroplasia at the age of seven.

Cullen was sexually abused by a violent paedophile ring as a teenager, and since his condition meant that he looked much younger than he was, this abuse continued into his twenties. Once he became a successful actor, his abusers returned to extort money with menaces. As a result he developed severe clinical depression. When he was arrested in 1993 for possession of child pornography the media outcry following his arrest effectively ended his acting career. Although the prosecution accepted that Cullen was storing the material under the duress of his abusers, he was nevertheless sent to prison, although he was released after fifteen days pending his subsequent successful appeal against sentence.

Cullen died in 1996 from complications following surgery to correct a bowel abnormality.

Bloody Hell. :(

Know that's one shitty life. Yikes.

Here's a thought for you, guys.

Obviously, with Wee Burney no longer with us...how do you think they will approach this in Rab C. Nesbitt. Will the acknowledge their son's death (possibly sparking Rab's turnaround in character) or will they just claim he is away at a University studying art? What do you think?

Burney left the series in 1993. I can't recall where he went though.

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