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Dinosaur can be seen on
BBC Scotland from April 14, airing Sundays and Mondays at 10.30pm. You can also catch it on BBC Three from Tuesday April 16 when double-bills will be broadcast from 9-10pm
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STILL Game legends Greg Hemphill and Sanjeev Kohli don’t mind admitting they both felt “prehistoric” during filming of new sitcom Dinosaur.
But the pair, two of Scotland’s most successful comedy actors, are getting a kick out of playing dads in the aptly titled show after almost two decades of being pensioners Victor and Navid in the hit BBC comedy.
Both are thrilled to be in a new series – packed full of up and coming stars from Bridgerton, It’s a Sin and The Royal Mob – that’s already tipped for huge success.
Greg, 54, said: “Watching all these wonderful young established actors from big shows doing a great job made Sanjeev and I feel like a couple of old farts. It was quite intimidating but satisfying knowing the new guard have as much talent as the old guard.
“When I first got the call asking if I was up for playing a dad, I thought, ‘ Woah right there, am I really that old?’ But then I thought about it and realised that for more than 20 years, Sanjeev and I dressed up as old men and played granddads in Still Game. So, in a sense, we are getting younger. Like real- life Benjamin Buttons.”
For Sanjeev, 52, getting to portray a dad who is just throughly unlikeable was a huge attraction.
He said: “I don’t get to play many a***holes but this guy is an arrogant a***hole which made him a lot of fun to play.”
The comedy series, about an autistic girl trying to navigate life, was co-written by Janey Godley’s daughter Ashley Storrie.
Ashley, 37, who has autism herself, plays the lead role Nina alongside Bridgerton’s Lorn Macdonald, 30, It’s a Sin’s David Carlyle, 35, and The Royal Mob’s Kat Ronney, 29.
Dinosaur follows Nina as she comes to terms with her sister Evie’s shock engagement after a whirlwind romance.
Greg plays Nina’s eccentric dad Ade and Sanjeev is the out-oftouch father of Sachin, Evie’s soonto-be husband.
The Chewing the Fat co-creator and the River City star said they were delighted to be acting together five years after the final curtain came down on Stil l Game.
Greg, who has two sons, Benny, 22, and Chevy, 18, with wife and Scot Squad actress Julie Wilson Nimmo, said: “Sanjeev is the busiest of all the Craiglang gang and we find it hard to catch up. Dinosaur gave us the chance to h av e fun together on and off set.
“It’s ironic our characters were about to become related by marriage as Sanj is already family to me. We know each other so well and I think of him as my brother from another mother.”
Sanjeev, dad to Ruby, 22, Bel, 19, and Vinay, 16, said: “Funnily enough, my Ruby and Greg’s Benny are the same age and we used to joke about what it
All the best sitcoms have warmth at heart and this has it in bucketloads GREG HEMPHILL ON
SHOW DINOSAUR
would be like if they got together.”
Greg loved playing Nina’s dad as he didn’t have to try too hard to get into character. He said: “Whenever you take on a part, you naturally compare yourself to the character and think which of your own traits you can bring to the party.
“Ade is great. He’s a chilled out, embarrassing dad who loves making crisp lasagne and watching reality TV.
“Like him, I go out of my way to embarrass my kids, whether that’s answering the door like
Basil Fawlty or doing bad dad dancing. The day my sons think I’m a cool dad is the day I know I have failed as a parent.”
Sanjeev said he relished getting to play Sachin, an upper class art dealer who is nothing like any character he’s taken on before. He said: “Sachin is very dismissive of his son which, as a dad, I found hard to comprehend. I don’t think I have ever played anyone so objectionable before but I enjoyed it.” Writer and comedy actress Ashley channelled her own neurodiversity while writing and starring in the show, which is set in the west end of Glasgow, where Nina works as a
palaeontologist at the Kelvingroverove Museum.
Greg said: “Autism is Ashley’shley’s superpower and she has said herself working on the pilot made her take off the mask she had been wearing for years.
“It doesn’t feel like it is a show about autism as there are very few people who cope well with change and Nina’s reactions in the series are an exaggerated version of how we all feel.
“It’s a beautiful story, simply told.”
Sanjeev added: “We all suffer from social anxiety, so audiences will be able to relate to Nina – she says the things we all would love to say but daren’t.
“There is a beautiful honesty about her character and the show. It’s a lovely way of looking at life and I know it is going to have a wide appeal.”
Produced by the team behind the award-winning series Fleabag, the BBC Scotland production has already been snapped up by US streaming service Hulu, owned by Disney.
Also in the series are River City’s Sally Howitt as Nina’s mum and Kate Dickie from Game of Thrones.
Both Sanjeev and Greg agree that Glasgow itself is the biggest star of the show. Greg said: “Actors aren’t
the only things that get typecast, cities do too, as does Scotland.
“A lot of directors think a show set here should either be about heroin or golf or it won’t sell but that is not true and Dinosaur allows Glasgow to shine.”
Sanjeev said: “If you want to represent Scotland internationally, a lot of people just think of Trainspotting or Outlander but there has to be a middle ground and this is it.
“It’s a Glasgow and a Scotland I recognise. Kelvingrove Museum is one of my favourite places on Earth and it is shown in all its stunning glory in Dinosaur.”
The pals hope the show will be back for a second season.
Sanjeev said: “I’ve already had a word in the writer’s ear suggesting it would be really funny if Sachin ended up moving in with Ade and his family. I have visions of the pair of them sitting on the sofa watching The Real Housewives together.”
Greg, currently working on a horror novel for children, said: “It needs to be recommissioned.
“All the best sitcoms have warmth at their heart and this one has it in bucketloads.
“We all need a bit of Dinosaur in our lives – it’s chicken soup for the soul.”