For a lot of people, this will be the end of their career
remarkable story of Glaswegian Mark Dempster’s journey from drug addiction to addiction counsellor to a wider audience.
He said: “It’s an incredible story. Mark got into drugs and violence and it was about how he got out of that.
“It was a really full-on experience, a bit like a visual audio book.”
The project aimed to help raise funds and awareness for the homeless charity the Big Issue Foundation.
Gav added: “The prospects of survival really went downhill for the homeless during the pandemic and their lives were hard enough before this.”
The second project, The ’Burn, couldn’t have been more different as he teamed up with a comparatively unknown cast for a sitcom set in a community council meeting in a small Scottish town.
Created by writer, actor and director Andy McGregor, Gav got involved after seeing his previous works Spuds and Crocodile Rock at Glasgow’s Oran Mor Play, Pie and a Pint series.
It’s staged as a Zoom call during the pandemic and features a cub journalist stumbling across a blood-curdling story.
Gav is luxury casting for such a small project but felt the production’s commitment to female-led comedy set outwith the central belt was important to throw his weight behind.
He said: “I liked Spuds so much I went to see it four times. I connected with Andy over social media and he asked me to get involved. I really wanted to do it because I liked Andy’s stuff.”
While the production values might have seemed light years away from the big budgets of Still Game on stage and screen, it wasn’t without its challenges.
Gav said: “I’m Mr Technophobe. What I thought was quite straightforward – doing different takes and sending the videos to Andy to edit it together – took me a whole day with him talking me through it
GAVIN MITCHELL ON THE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS
like he was trying to help me land a plane.” With Still Game consigned to the past, Gav admits lockdown forced him to reflect differently on the experiences of Craiglang. He said: “It was emotional to do the last series and the Hydro but when it was over it was over, there was a relief as well. “All good things come to an end. Walk away when the going is good, take your memories and be proud of being part of something that was so special to a lot of people. “The brain has been doing a lot of funny things during lockdown. There’s a lot of nostalgia searching, listening to old albums, watching old movies, thinking of old friends. “I’ve felt a bit winsome about the Hydro shows. Maybe I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have. It’s amazing how much we can take for granted. When you reflect on it, you realise how lucky you’ve been and how special it was.” Nothing to Declare is available on BooksOffice.com and The ’Burn is on https://m.youtube.com/watch? feature=youtu.be&v=hPzcE2ADyWE