Still Game favourites set to be bow out after 21 years of making the nation laugh
● Ford Kiernan and Greg Hempill say the end is nigh
Still Game’s creators are set to stun fans by bring the Scottish comedy to an end after 21 years.
Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill have revealed the show will be bowing out for good this year after a ninth and final series.
They made the surprise announcement ahead of filming getting under way on a new batch of episodes the pair say will “finish Jack, Victor and the gang’s journey”.
The impending end of Still Game has been announced four years after Kiernan and Hemphill reunited its cast for a live show at the Hydro arena.
An official announcement from BBC Scotland said the two writers and actors “feel the time is right to retire Still Game from TV”.
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.”
Still Game started life as an Edinburgh Festival Fringe show in 1997 after Kiernan and Hemphill were offered a slot by Gilded Balloon founder Karen Koren. It was turned into a TV series in 2002 after the characters Jack, Victor, Tam and Winston made regular appearances in Chewin’ the Fat, the sketch show Kiernan and Hemphill created for BBC Scotland.
It ran for six hugely successful series for the next five
years and secured Uk-wide network slots, but then went on a lengthy hiatus after a much-publicised rift between Kiernan and Hemphill. They patched up their differences to create a new live show for the Hydro, which went on to sell out 21 performances and rake in £6 million at the box office.
The revival inspired BBC Scotland to commission two more series, the most recent of which aired earlier this year, while the cast returned to the Hydro with a new live show in 2017. The revival of Still Game
became the most watched non-sporting programme in Scotland in the space of a decade, with some episodes attracting more than half the available audience.
Among the stars to have had cameo roles over the years have been Lorraine Kelly, Craig Ferguson, Jackie Bird, Una Mclean, Sylvester Mccoy, Kate Dickie, Tom Urie, David Hayman and Billy Boyd.
Kiernan and Hemphill’s regular co-stars Jane Mccarry, Sanjeev Kohli, Gavin Mitchell, Paul Riley and Mark Cox
will all be returning for the final series, which is due to be broadcast later this year.
Steve Carson, head of multiplatform commissioning at BBC Scotland, said: “Still Game is a once-in-a-generation comedy that attracts audiences of all ages.
“Jack, Victor and the gang at the Clansman have made millions laugh by growing old disgracefully and we’re going to miss them when this fantastic new series concludes.”
“When the last episode airs we hope your memories of our little gang will be fond ones” FORD KIERNAN
annon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell, Rode the six hundred.”
The Charge of the Light Brigade was an infamous military mistake, but it is sometimes forgotten that the near-suicidal cavalry charge actually succeeded in taking the Russian guns during the Battle of Balaclava in 1854.
In finally spelling out the detail of what “Brexit means Brexit” actually means with the publication of a White Paper, Theresa May has sounded the charge.
Tory backbencher Jacob Reesmogg – along with assorted other hard Brexiteers – was quick to open fire from the right, declaring May’s plan to be the “greatest vassalage since King John paid homage to Phillip II at Le Goulet in 1200”.
And, from the left, Labour said the government was in “a mess”, Len Mccluskey, of the Unite union, said the proposals were a “fudge which pleases no-one”, and the SNP’S Fiona Hyslop warned May’s plan would “harm our economy”.
Directly ahead lies the European Union, whose big guns have yet to start firing but may well do if they conclude the White Paper would undermine the principles that hold the EU together.
With some politicians viewing May’s Brexit as too soft and others too hard, opinion further divided by party affiliations, and Labour looking for any chance to bring down the government, it is difficult to see how the Prime Minister can win a vote in the Commons.
And, if the UK cannot agree its position, it appears there will be a “no-deal” Brexit in March next year with severe economic consequences for Britan and the real risk of disaster – companies relocating or going bust, mass job losses and social unrest. That must not happen.
Perhaps May and her supporters will manage to make it through their own metaphorical Valley of Death, but if they do not, there needs to be a plan for what happens next.
Earlier this week, Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, called for cross-party talks “with a view to establishing a government of national unity” and for a second referendum. If the UK is to avoid a no-deal Brexit, both suggestions – met with scorn in the Commons – may need to be seriously considered.