FamiliarFaces
Film and television star Iain Robertson reveals how his career has gone full circle with return to Scotland seeing him team up again with those who helped launch his career
been arrested after his mum shopped him to the police to save him from his involvement with gangsters. He returns with a new look as Iain is taking on the role from original actor Cas Harkins.
He said: “There’s references to the past but it’s up to me to run with it now. Stevie’s got a nasty streak in him but he is trying to kick against that. It comes naturally to him to be abrasive and self-serving but there’s a decent guy in there too.”
He’s also bisexual, and will start a relationship with Robbie Fraser, played by Gary Lamont.
Iain said: “I think their Facebook status would be, ‘It’s complicated’. They get involved. It was my first time having to kiss a guy on a job and I don’t think I will be taking it up because I didn’t like the stubble rash.”
It’s yet another step on a career path which has never been less than interesting.
Iain, who grew up in Govan, joined a drama group when a teacher at school spotted his acting ability.
He won a scholarship for the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London when was 12 and was spotted at 13 by film director Gillies Mackinnon for Small Faces.
His CV since has included Grange Hill, The Debt Collector with Billy Connolly, Basic Instinct 2 with Sharon Stone and Band of Brothers with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. He has also taken on the role of Rab C Nesbitt’s son Gash, appeared in shows like DCI Banks and Shetland and starred in a number of acclaimed stage shows including Donna Franceschild’s Takin’ Over The Asylum.
Small Faces, and the connections he made there, still casts a long but fortuitous shadow.
He starred in the remake of Whisky Galore!, once again directed by Gillies Mackinnon, and is working with the film-maker on an upcoming project for Iain’s own production company, Stone Scissors Paper.
In the summer, he is returning to Holby City where he has a recurring role as the brother of series regular Joe McFadden, who also played his sibling in Small Faces.
The film, about three brothers coming of age in 60s Glasgow under the shadow of the street gangs, won the Best Film prize at the Edinburgh International Film Festival when it was first released and a Scottish BAFTA for Iain. It was honoured with a sold-out 20th anniversary screening at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2015, which he attended along with most of the cast.
He was even recognised for it in a chippy in Troon just last week.
He said: “I made friends for life. Myself, Steven Duffy and Kevin McKidd, speak every week. I see them all the time. I just made Whisky Galore! with Gillies, I’m involved in this production company and developing a film project with him.
“I get to hook up with Joe and play brothers again. The director who originally brought me in told me there was a connection between us money couldn’t buy.
“When we did the 20th anniversary screening, I had to leave. I had a weird mish-mash of feelings and I went and got a cup of tea. I came back at the end for the Q and A and Gillies said, ‘Just as you left it got really good’.”
As well as doing River City and Holby, Iain is also working with Stone Scissors Paper on a documentary about Brother Walfrid, the Maris Brother who founded Celtic FC. He is enjoying life, although experience has taught him not to look too far ahead.
He recalls making a decision to stay in supernatural drama Sea of Souls for maybe five seasons when it was cancelled after two.
Iain is also in a sober place, having given up drinking two years ago. He didn’t have a problem but could easily have developed one.
He was encouraged by friends including the late Sean Scanlan, an actor who had also enjoyed a drink in his past.
Sean, the husband of Rab C Nesbitt star Barbara Rafferty, died in April from throat cancer and they had worked together a number of times, most recently on Whisky Galore!
Iain said: “I wasn’t good at drinking. When I started, I couldn’t stop and people like Sean spotted it. He encouraged me to get sober and he was never shy about it. He would call out, ‘Are you aff the drink yet Robbo’.
“I was on set in River City when we got the news that Sean was gone and we were all crying, looking out for each other. It kind of sums up River City. I moved back to Glasgow from London years ago because I missed the sense of community and I’ve joined a lovely community of people who have got your back.” ●River City is on BBC1 on Tuesday at 8pm.