The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)

Jack and Victor game for one last series

BBC comedy show Still Game to return to the screens for final six episodes

- ANDREW ARTHUR

BBC comedy Still Game will return for a ninth and final series later this year, it has been announced.

The last outing of the long-running sitcom, which follows the antics of Scottish pensioners Jack and Victor in the fictional Craiglang area of Glasgow, will last for six episodes.

Filming will get under way in BBC Scotland’s Dumbarton Studios and around Glasgow next month.

The show is the brainchild of comedians Ford Kiernan, 56, and Greg Hemphill, 48, who also star as the show’s elderly protagonis­ts.

Jack and Victor originally appeared in the pair’s sketch show Chewin’ The Fat, which aired in Scotland between 1999 and 2005.

After making its TV debut in 2002, the duo said they felt it was the right time to retire the show from the small screen.

Hemphill said: “Still Game is a story 21 years in the making. We’ve had an amazing run but one of our hopes when we brought the show back was that we would get the opportunit­y to finish Jack, Victor and the gang’s journey.

“We feel that time is upon us. We hope you will join us later in the year to see how the story ends!”

Kiernan said: “I can’t believe 21 years have passed in what, for us, has been an outstandin­g experience of collaborat­ion, storytelli­ng and performing.

“But above all being fortunate to entertain people and make them smile.

“So when the last episode airs we hope your memories of our little gang will be fond ones.”

Controller of BBC comedy commission­ing, Shane Allen said: “Ford and Greg have achieved that rare beauty of making a modern classic sitcom that has made millions laugh and will be enjoyed for decades to come.”

A transmissi­on date for the upcoming series is yet to be announced.

So when the last episode airs we hope your memories of our little gang will be fond ones. FORD KIERNAN

 ?? Picture: BBC Studios. ?? The Still Game cast, from left, Gavin Mitchell, Paul Riley, Greg Hemphill, Ford Kiernan, Jane McCarry, Mark Cox and Sanjeev Kohli.
Picture: BBC Studios. The Still Game cast, from left, Gavin Mitchell, Paul Riley, Greg Hemphill, Ford Kiernan, Jane McCarry, Mark Cox and Sanjeev Kohli.

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