Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill interview
Still Game is back! Here stars Ford Kiernan (aka Jack) and Greg Hemphill (aka Victor) talk about their show...
For those yet to discover Still Game, what's it all about?
Ford: It's the resilience of pensioners and the fact that when you get to a certain age, you don't get lost. If you have a good set of pals around about you can have a great life.
Greg: It's all about the mischief a group of pensioners get up to, how they fill their days and the exciting lives that they lead.
It's something of a comedy phenomenon - what is the unique appeal of the show?
Ford: It's got a big heart and it's not just all about laughs. I've got a feeling, you know, that pensioners talk in a very different way when their kids and grandkids, aren't around.
Greg: The characters are very real so people of all ages can relate to Still Game. Whether you're a grandkid or a grandparent yourself it's a family dynamic that every single family has. And when you throw in the fact that they're Scottish and live in a less-than-salubrious neighbourhood, makes for a good comedy mix.
It's been nine years since you filmed the last series, how did it feel to revisit these Craiglang characters?
Ford: Like slipping on an old jacket - quite literally, they had it in storage! It's very comfortable.
Greg: It felt very exciting, like pulling on a pair of old slippers. The nine-year gap served us well in the end because it allowed us to continue the story with the live shows. I'm not sure what would have happened to Still Game had we not had a break - we might have grown thoroughly sick of it. I think that downtime, for us, the creators, and the audience allowed everyone time to miss Still Game.
Nine years on, have you picked up here you left off?
Ford: Time has moved on but the characters' ages haven't. We like the idea that Oor Wullie and The Broons never got older. There's a comfortability in having Still Game's characters living in a permanent age bubble.
Greg: We find them in exactly the same position as they were all the time - they're kind of frozen in time in a sense. As we all get older, Jack and Victor don't which I think is a nice metaphor for the show. Jack and Victor are eternally 75 years old so in many ways it's like a reboot rather than a continuation.
This time round it's been quite the whirlwind, we've got the support of the network, it's going to BBC One in a primetime slot and it's all very exciting. The game has been upped.
Describe your characters, Jack and Victor?
Ford: Jack's a man much like his best pal, Victor. They exist together as a unit, if one of them is not quite right, they rush to help out. There's a real community feel about the show. Jack, like Victor, is nothing if he's not part of the Craiglang community. Still Game reinforces that you shouldn't ignore pensioners because they are completely valuable and relevant.
Greg: Victor's quite crabbit and blunt. Jack and Victor are family to each other, they're like brothers. They have similarities but are also very different. Jack can be quite wide-eyed and child-like whereas Victor can be quite cynical.
Can you describe the other characters, starting with Isa...
Ford: Isa's the one that carries all the stories, she's the gossip. She knows everyone, knows everything that's going on and the best place for her to find all that information is working in Navid's store.
Greg: As much as Jack and Victor and the other men roll their eyes when they see her coming, there's real love and friendship towards her. Isa is, for my money, the true heart of the show. If ever she was to get in any bother, Jack, Victor and the others would jump to her defence but if they see her on the landing, they're going to run in the opposite direction because she'll take 40 minutes off them, gossiping.
Winston...
Ford: He just rails against the machine. He's got a bluff attitude he doesn't taken any nonsense, Winston tells you how it is all the time. Nonetheless, he has an enormous heart.
Greg: Winston was one of the three original characters from the stage show and is one of my favourites. He was more pugnacious than Jack and Victor, he was more black and white and, while that can be a very endearing quality, it can also get you into a lot of trouble. Pensioners are time-poor and Winston is very cautious that time he has left is shrinking so he doesn't suffer fools gladly. That's an admirable quality - one of the great benefits of growing old is that you might not have a lot of money in your pocket but you'll be able to spot a ringer from a mile off.
Tam...
Ford: Tam's Winston's buddy and he's inherently miserable. If there's a way to make a penny stretch, he'll find it. Tam goes to all sorts of lengths and antics to get something for nothing.
Greg: Sitcoms are great for hanging a characteristic on a person and Tam's unique personality is that he's tight. Even though he's very much part of the family, he's kind of the black sheep. They tolerate Tam's tightness and it never gets to the point where they can't be round him. Being tight is part of Tam's DNA.
Navid...
Ford: Navid's a no-nonsense kind of man. He will not take any rubbish off anyone and has a huge amount of dignity. Everyone in Craiglang respects Navid but cross him and it's over for you.
Greg: Navid is the wise man of Craiglang. We wanted to make Navid the smartest man in the room, the oracle of Craiglang. If Jack and Victor have a question, Navid always has a wise answer for them. Jack and Victor go into his shop for their rolls but there's a spot of meditation in there as well. He's wise, funny and caustic and has his own stinking relationship with his wife, Meena, where they're battling with one another all the time.
Boabby the Barman...
Greg: Boabby is the barman at the Clansman pub where everyone drinks. Jack and Victor are basically at war with Boabby every time he opens his mouth but it's always only banter and jocular. The insults are two-footed tackles and red cards, none of it really means anything. He's younger than the rest of them so he can tackle their insults in a different way than the others - he often tells them that they'll be dead soon. It's never sharp enough that Jack and Victor would ever leave the Clansman pub to drink somewhere else though.
Ford: Well he's never really managed to get what he wanted - managing a bigger pub in a nicer area with younger people to serve. Unfortunately, he's stuck in Craiglang pulling pints for pensioners... but as much as he slags them and takes the mickey out of them, he cares deeply about the community. He'd just never admit it.
Transforming into pensioners can't be easy...
Ford: It only takes an hour now and that's not because my face is like an old carrier bag! Latex goes round about the eyes, it shrinks and makes wrinkles longer, deeper and more prominent. It's quite depressing really. You can actually see what fate awaits you and I will probably get recognised more as I get older than I do today. It takes a while though but you've got to suffer for your art sometimes!
Greg: A lot of it is feeling. It's funny, none of us really sounds or feel like the characters until we have our costumes on. The costume and the make-up in Still Game are like a suit of armour - a knitted suit of armour!
How do you find donning pensioner attire?
Ford: Our wardrobe is scarily comfortable. I can't wait to wear Jack's cardigans and I love a good tank top. I'm just a shade too young to wear one myself at the moment! I think you can safely wear a tank top around your early 60s.
Greg: It's like a warm bath, I get quite a kick out of our costumes! It used to feel completely alien when I was younger but now I'm like "oh these trousers are nice and comfy!". Everything's comfy, although I would think Jane McCarry [Isa] would argue that her outfit isn't because we film in the summer and she wears about three layers of wool, polyester and a hat.
Do you have any real-life inspirations for the characters?
Ford: My Uncle Barney lived in Easterhouse and had been a roofer all his life. Roofers are notorious for having a good sense of humour, very earthy and fun. By all accounts Greg's Grandpa Sammy was an absolute riot, he could cut you apart in a couple of sentences he was so funny. That being said, Jack and Victor are not impersonations of Barney or Sammy - but they are inspirations, in part.
Greg: I used to spend a lot of time with my grandfather Sammy. He lived in Maryhill but was originally from Ireland. He worked for the gas board in Scotland and he had cold black humour which always made me laugh. He was very forthright and mischievous and seemed to be up to all sorts all the time. He would say things like "I'm going upstairs now - I may never make it back down", he was constantly at the gallows humour. Ford's Uncle Barney was exactly the same, there was a richness to their storytelling and we just wanted to emulate that and honour it.
You're the writers and creators of the show, what are your personal comedy inspirations?
Ford: For me, it all goes back to Laurel & Hardy and the likes of Bilko. I love the Rat Pack's humour, the tongue-in-cheek laughs you'd get.
Greg: Well, I grew up in Canada so I liked things like Cheers and Family Ties. I loved American sitcoms mainly but I also loved the likes of Monty Python and when I came back to the UK it was The Young Ones and Blackadder. I do love sitcoms in the sense that you have to have the element of surprise but also familiarity that brings the audience back. Sitcoms are unique in that way because those two elements are strange bedfellows.
Still Game has a following all over the world and has become a success on streaming sites, why do you think it travels so well?
Ford: I got fanmail from a Vietnamese family who had managed to get subtitles for Still Game. They emailed to say they really liked it because they keep their old folks living with them all the time. When we played Toronto with the live shows, a Jamaican woman came up to us and said I reminded her of her grandfather. I was amazed but it was all due to the mannerisms, people identify with it because it's about family.
Greg: I think because when we set out to write it we didn't write it just for Scotland. It never felt like it was something that was inaccessible if you weren't Scottish. If you're English, Canadian, Irish, Welsh it's universal. In the same way that Mrs Brown's Boys is dyed-in-the-wool Dublin, people across the UK and the world can relate to having a crazy mother.
You went on location for the last two weeks of the shoot, what response did you get?
Ford: We got mobbed but it's always great to get recognised and we always allow a little time to get photos taken - after all, the public make the show what it is.
Greg: It was amazing. We filmed the first four weeks in the bubble in the BBC Scotland studios in Dumbarton and then we came out around Glasgow in full costume with a camera crew in tow. It was like we had a big sign saying "we're Still Game - come over and say hello". The reception we got, I've never experienced anything like it. This is a sitcom we're talking about. We're not film stars, it's not Harry Potter but at times it felt like people's enthusiasm was at an all-time high. You start to realise you've created something that is loved. Long may it continue.
The Still Game live shows in 2014 sold out 21 shows at Glasgow's Hydro Arena, bumping U2 off the bill - what was that like?
Ford: It was like being in The Beatles for a fortnight - the only thing missing was a guitar! We felt like rock stars.
Greg: That was great fun and I think possibly had we not done the live shows, we would have been more nervous coming back to TV. It felt like a big family reunion where everybody was invited.
Still Game boasts a number of celebrity fans including Lorraine Kelly, David Tennant and Robbie Coltrane...
Ford: Robbie Coltrane was a surprise fan. He's a big global star, I mean he's Hagrid for god's sake. We've had some terrific people over the years including Celia Imrie, Clive Russell and this time around Kevin Whately came. Kevin was the biggest surprise of the series for me.
Greg: A Canadian actor called Jay Baruchel who works with the likes of Seth Grogan, contacted me on Twitter to say how much he really loves Still Game - things like that take me by surprise. Once again, it highlights that Still Game is a show that can be enjoyed by anybody and nothing should surprise you but it's always nice when someone from a far-flung corner reacts to it.
And why should people tune in?...
Ford: Because as cockney would say, "you don't know what you're missing!"
Greg: They'll tune in for one of two reasons - they're curious or they're already fans of the show. My favourite sitcom of all time is Cheers and, as a 12 year-old, I loved it and wanted to sit at the bar and smile over at Norm. We've always aspired to make Still Game something that people look forward to spending a half hour in the company of these characters. And it really is as simple as that.
Series 7 of Still Game is on BBC One on Friday nights at 9:30pm.