STILL GAME STAR ON THE JOYS OF WEARING A MASK Itwasfirsttimein20 yearsIcouldgoout withoutsomeone callingmeap***k
ACTOR Gavin Mitchell is still suffering from the effects of Covid months after falling ill from the virus. The Still Game star, famous for playing Boaby the Barman, fears he has Long Covid.
He has described the experience as “truly terrifying” but believes things would have been much worse if he hadn’t been double vaccinated.
“I don’t know where I got Covid. I tested positive,” Gavin, 56, said. “It was unbelievable because I’d been double jabbed and I had been exceptionally careful.
“I’m not fully recovered and I shudder to think what would have happened without vaccines.”
After displaying Covid symptoms at the start of July, Gavin took lateral flow tests which came back negative. A later PCR test delivered a positive result, sending him into self-isolation.
Now, Gavin, who has signed up to appear in a production of the panto Aladdin alongside Gary: Tank Commander actor Greg McHugh and comedian and singer Leah MacRae, hopes to be well enough to take the stage when the pantomime – postponed from last year – arrives at the SEC Armadillo.
Gavin said: “I’m tired but we are getting there and I’ll hopefully be ready for Christmas time.
“It’s been a couple of months and that seems a common shared experience with people who’ve had it, long-term fatigue and breathing.
“People forget how things can go into Long Covid if you don’t look after yourself.”
Recalling the realisation that he had the virus, he added: “At first, it felt like I had a cold and I thought I’d test myself because I was being really careful.
“I did a lateral flow test which was negative.
“Then it got worse and I did another lateral flow test which was negative.
“I was filming Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh’s new television series Crime and got a PCR test. It was positive.
“I immediately self-isolated as soon as I knew.
“I went down wearing a mask and gloves and a girl around the corner took my dog and a mate brought my shopping.
“I took the bag of shopping and said, ‘Bye, everybody’, then hid myself away.
“It was really bad for a while, a horrible chest, not being able to sleep, hallucinations and then I thought I was fine.
“But several days later, I went to the
I get tired really easily and my breathing isn’t 100 per cent GAVIN MITCHELL ON THE AFTER EFFECTS OF COVID
Boaby the Barman actor Gavin Mitchell on living with Long Covid, how he enjoyed anonymity during lockdown and why he’s hopeful he’ll be back for panto this year
toilet and my legs gave way. I still have symptoms, mainly fatigue.
“I get tired really easily and my breathing is not 100 per cent. I have a really bad chest. Let it be a warning to anyone.”
Gavin will also co-star in the adaptation of Welsh’s 2008 novel Crime, which is heading to BritBox later this year.
Dougray Scott is also in the cast of the six-part drama as troubled DI Lennox alongside Angela Griffin and Ken Stott. “We’ve got Crime sorted,” Gavin said. “Everybody has been fighting during Covid to get things in the can.
“Glasgow was doubling as bits of Edinburgh in the filming.
“It’s quite exciting and is based on one of Irvine’s books that’s largely been overlooked.
“I can’t reveal too much but I’m a mate of Dougray Scott’s main character Lennox.
“I play a civilian who has had an edge in his time.
“Lennox and my character go way back as old pals who were at school together.”
Gavin also revealed he was trolled by anti-vaxxers on social media after going public about his illness.
But having lost many of his friends in the last year, not all from Covid, he has little time for the conspiracy theorists.
He said: “People came back at me on social media when I said, ‘Watch what you’re doing because you can still get Covid even if you are double jabbed or no matter how careful you are. It can hit you really hard and have long lasting effects. Beware’.
“The anti-vaxxers jumped on that and said, ‘Ah, but you were OK until you had the vaccine’. Honestly, you can’t win.
“It was a worrying time because you don’t have anything to compare it to, worrying because you are alone and it is scary trying to breathe. “It was frightening. “This was me with the vaccination, what would I have been like without it?”
He added: “I’ve lost friends to Covid. I’ve lost 18 people in just over a year, some from Covid.
“I didn’t get closure because I couldn’t go to the funerals.
“I couldn’t go to a wake and celebrate the person’s life and tell stories.
“I’ll be walking the dog thinking about someone then realise they’re not here anymore.
“That leads me to realise there’s a whole wave of people who are gone.
“It’s hard to get my head around that they are gone.”
On a positive note, Gavin says wearing a mask has meant a degree of anonymity which has saved him from passers-by calling him a “p***k”.
“I’m not going to lie,” Gavin said. “One of the things I liked about lockdown is it was the first time I’ve been able to walk the streets in nearly 20 years without somebody calling me a ‘p***k’. That was quite nice. “It did wonders for my self-esteem. “Because of the Still Game catchphrase ‘Two pints, ya p***k’, someone shouts it every day at me or if I go in a pub someone says, ‘Should you no be behind the bar?’
“They’re wetting themselves laughing and shocked that I’m not rolling about thinking it’s hilarious because they think it’s the first time I’ve ever heard that.
“So it was nice for a while to rediscover Glasgow and go on long dog walks without being recognised because I’m wearing a mask.”
Gavin also revealed he almost missed out on a role in Still Game altogether, after initially being cast as onelegged Winston Ingram.
The iconic part went to Paul Riley when creators Ford Kiernan and Greg
Hemphill staged a prototype of the show at Glasgow’s Cottiers theatre. “I was meant to do that show because I was originally cast as Winston,” Gavin said. “They wrote the part for me but at the last minute, I was doing a children’s TV series and they wouldn’t release me, so I had to pull out. “Paul came in and he became Winston and the rest is history. When it was being made for TV, Ford and Greg brought me back as Boaby.” Looking ahead to his panto role, he added: “Everybody is talking about nightclubs reopening, live music and entertainment but I think people forget how important a panto is for kids and adults and the entertainment that brings families together. “It’s one of the few things where mums and dads and kids and grandparents can all come to. “It should be a giant celebration. I imagine people will be chomping at the bit to enjoy themselves.”