ROOTING FOR HOME-GROWN FAVOURITES
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been aboutabou 18 text messages and missed cacalls – so I assumed the worst, ththat something bad had happened. happened “But it tuturned out I was a question on Who WantsW To Be A Millionaire?. A woman hhad been asked, ‘Scottish comedian Iain Stirling has been the narrator narratoro of which British TV series?’ “The questionqu was for a decent amount of money so obviously I’m not as welwell known as I thought – I was quite a tricky question. “I think she ended up getting the questionquesti right but I cost her a few lifelinlifelines because she ‘asked the audience’ audience and went for a ‘50/50’.” Iain, wwho is based in Majorca for the durationdur of the two-month show, says he loves working along alongside show writer Mark BuskCowley and coming up withwith witty one- liners that revol revolve around the islanders’ antics. antic He and Mark usually work for bbetween five and eight hours hour a day writing his script from a Portakabin near the villa, villa recording his narration, then waiting for show bosses to ggive their work the green light. ligh He says their easiest days are whenn things in the Love Island villa get heated.
He added: “Mark and I have a pretty great time sitting in our wee Portakabin writing the jokes.
“We love what we do but we are always secretly quite pleased when it all kicks off.
“Whenever people in the villa start shouting and screaming, then there’s not so much for us to do that day. It’s like a day off.”
Iain, who lives with his TV host girl friend Laura Whitmore in London, says working six days a week on the show makes it hard to catch up with family and friends.
He said: “I only get a Saturday off but I do try to nip home now and again. When I get to the airport in Majorca, I know I’m going to be right back there 20 hours later but two months is a long time to be away from home so I go back when I can.”
Iain, a former pupil of Liberton High, is looking forward to catching up with as many friends as possible when he returns to Edinburgh in August for a two-week stint at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
He will be back in the city early next year, too, as part of a national tour with his new stand-up show, Failing Upwards, which will also see him visit Glasgow, Falkirk and Aberdeen.
He said: “Working on Love Island is a fantastic job by itself but its success has also meant I’m now able to do things like this tour.
“No one knew who I was before Love Island and now I’m getting to do what I love all over the country.
“When I was growing up, I was probably one of the quieter ones at school.
“I went to university to study law but then I started doing stand- up and realised this is what it feels like to really love doing something.
“I look back now and realise I would have been a terrible lawyer – I wouldd have been late to court, I would probably havee forgotten all my paperworkk and the poor innocent guyy next to me would probablyy have ended up in jail.
“I feel very lucky that myy life has turned out the wayay it has.”