Still Game star backs chat drive to help beat loneliness

GEORGE MAIR

Ford Kiernan has suffered loneliness.

opposite Hemphill, as his pal Victor McDade, in the popular sitcom set in fictional Craiglang.

It also features an array of older characters, from local busybody Isa to shopkeeper Navid.

Kiernan said the comedy show does not avoid the question of ageing and associated loneliness.

He said: “We don’t want to bring anybody down but from time to time there is poignancy in it, and pathos to point out what happens to you when you get to a certain age.

“We did an episode where I asked the woman in the charity shop out, and it left Victor completely at a loose end. He was pouring two cups of tea, then, realising Jack’s not there, he throws it down the sink.“Lots of things like that. Loneliness can come crashing in.”

Kiernan also said he had encountered loneliness in his own career, and admitted he worries about becoming lonely in the future.

He said: “There is loneliness in every aspect of life. When you’re touring or you’re doing stand-up you can be completely lonely in a group of a thousand people.

“If you’re not chatting or communicating and integrating with people it is easy to get lonely. There is no drug to cure loneliness.”