RIVER OF TEARS
Co-stars record special episode for lost actor.. and his best pal Grant pops in dressed up as a comic book hero
A UNIQUE tribute to one of Scotland’s best-loved actors will be broadcast on Monday. But it’s not a one-off greatest hits show – it’s an episode of River City.
Andy Gray, who died of Covid last January, played Pete in the long-running soap.
The 61-year-old was also a fixture at Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre pantomime, appearing every festive season beside Grant Stott and Allan Stewart.
Now everything from his panto catchphrase to his love of comic superheroes is celebrated in a memorial for Pete in River City.
It’s written by another panto legend, the Tron theatre’s Johnny McKnight, and Andy’s personality quirks are woven into every aspect of the hour-long drama.
The opening shot is a bunch of flowers outside the Tall Ship, the pub at the centre of Shieldinch. The card says: “I’m no very well”.
Grant, Andy’s panto wingman, said: “That was a lovely nod to his Edinburgh audience – those who saw him at the King’s will get that straight away.
“He’d just walk on stage and say it and get a roar, the audience were desperate to hear him say, ‘I’m no very well’. It was just one of the brilliant tiny details in the episode. It acknowledged his career and his life.”
Grant joined the cast of River City last year so never worked beside his friend. Their characters had never met so Grant was not sure there would be a role for him in the episode.
But the writers wove in a comic subplot that Grant said Andy would have loved. It involved him attending the hastily-arranged memorial event in a Batman costume.
Andy was obsessed with comics and superheroes and dressed up in a cape and pointy ears at every opportunity.
Grant said: “It’s what Andy would have wanted, a really lovely mix of comedy, funny moments, a few laughs. No doubt he would have looked at me and said that he would have filled that Batman suit way better than I did.”
Andy’s daughter Clare, who is also an actor, appeared with Andy and Grant in several pantomimes.
She agreed that it was an inspired bit of casting.
“Dad would have thoroughly enjoyed seeing Grant in that Batman suit,” she said.
Clare and Grant teamed up for last year’s King’s Theatre show and did a month’s worth of performances before it closed three weeks early. It wasn’t easy for Clare but Grant was there whenever she needed him. “If I was feeling a bit down or overwhelmed I would go to Grant’s dressing room and ask for a hug. I’ve known him since I was tiny, he’s a big part of my life. He’s taken me under his wing, he phones and makes sure I’m OK. He’s very important to me.”
Clare makes a guest appearance in the River City episode via a huge poster advertising the King’s panto – with her name and photo on it. She knew it would be there but didn’t think the camera would linger on it so regularly.
She said: “It was so lovely, especially when there was a picture of dad and you could see me in the background.”
Clare also appreciated all the purple details – tinsel, balloons and even nail varnish. She said: “Purple was a very special colour for my dad. My granny used to paint her pinky nails purple. After she passed away, purple became our family colour.” Andy painted his own little finger nails the same colour, in memory of his mum. Clare said: “The nails were a wee comfort thing. Dad was a very sensitive soul, things like that were very important to him. I do it now. “They picked up on all of that. Gayle Telfer Stevens (who plays Pete’s widow Caitlin) had her pinky nails purple. It was very subtle. Unless you knew dad very well, you wouldn’t pick up on. It was so special, I’m so touched by the effort that went into it.” And no celebration of Andy would be complete without prosecco, which features in Pete’s memorial at the Tall Ship. Grant said: “It was his signature drink over the last few years – he discovered that and everything else went out the window.” Clare added: “That’s something else he’s passed on to me. I do it for him.”