From the Fringe to the Hydro – how they became a comedy phenomenon
1997: Still Game starts life as a stage play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill joined on stage by Gavin Mitchell, who played the character of Winston. The production goes on to tour around Scotland and England, as well as in Ireland and Canada. 1999: The characters of Jack and Victor are revived for iern- an and Hemphill’s new TV series Chewin’ the Fat, which runs for four series and also features future Still Game stars Paul Riley and Mark Cox, aswell as Karen Dunbar and Tom Urie.
2002: Still Game gets its own BBC Scotland show, which runs for six series and is shown throughout the UK. But it vanishes off air after the 2007 Hogmanay special amid reports of a behind-the-scenes rift. 2013: The cast of Craiglang stage a press conference to announce they will be appearing at the Hydro in Glasgow the following year with a major new live show. It goes on to sell out 21 shows, which are seen by more than 210,000 fans and generates more than £6 million in ticket sales. 2014: The BBC stages a Hogmanay tribute show to Still Game to celebrate their stage reunion amid mounting speculation about a new series. 2016: The BBC announces filming has begun on a brand new series of Still Game after a nine-year hiatus. It becomes Scotland’s most watched nonsporting programme in over a decade with weekly episodes regularly attracting over half of the total available audience. 2017: Still Game’s fans pack out the Hydro for a second time, with the Craiglang gang setting sail on a vast cruise liner set purpose built for the arena. Within months of the live show being staged, filming gets under way on a new sixpart series.
2018: Series eight sees Scottish comedy favourite Craig Ferguson return from Hollywood to Scotland to film an episode, while Bruce Morton has a recurring new role as the local undertaker. The character of Eric is killed off. Kiernan and Hemphill reveal that a ninth series is planned, but that will be the final swansong for Jack, Victor and the Clansman gang.