News

Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphil have taken their Still Game characters to the page, and here are the details.

In 1997, writers and actors Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill wrote and starred in Still Game, a live show revolving around pensioners Jack and Victor. They reprised the roles in sketch show Chewin’ The Fat before launching Still Game as a sitcom in 2002. It ran for nine series and 62 episodes until 2019. A farewell live show sold out Glasgow’s Sse Hydro for three nights.

Kiernan and Hemphill have teamed up with editor Gordon Tait to bring Jack and Victor to the page in their own comic book called He Who Hingith Aboot Getteth Hee Haw.

The synopsis reads as follows:

Jack and Victor are no ordinary oldies. They’re seniors wi’ sass, pensioners wi’ punch and stars of their very own award-winning show, Still Game. For nine side-splitting seasons the life-long pals...

If there’s one thing we’re not short of on this strange little island, it’s funny people. When life is good, we’re laughing. When things get weird, we’re laughing. And when everything falls apart, somehow we’re still laughing.

From top bants to gallows humour, you can always rely on the British to bring the LOLs, and from Charlie Chaplin through to Monty Python and Fleabag, British comedy seems to translate pretty well worldwide too, meaning there’s plenty on offer on Netflix.

So if you’re sick of rewatching the same old sitcoms and looking for fresh laughs, we recommend these British comedy hidden gems on Netflix:

[All the following are available on both US and UK Netflix, unless stated]

Lovesick

For most of us, an Std probably wouldn’t be our first choice for the basis of a sitcom, but that’s why Lovesick is so genius: it takes a usually no-laughing-matter concept and stuffs it full of refreshing honesty,...

"You keep a dead husband inside a box of chocolates?" Vertical Ent. has released the first official trailer for an indie comedy titled Then Came You, from filmmaker Adriana Trigiani with a screenplay written by Kathie Lee Gifford. The romcom film is about a lonely who widow plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes, to visit the places they loved in the movies. The first stop on the journey changes her life forever as she meets a Scottish man and falls hard for him, but struggles to let go of her dead husband and move on. This stars Kathie Lee Gifford as Annabelle, with Craig Ferguson, Ford Kiernan, Phyllida Law, and Brett James. This looks extra campy and extra schmaltzy, with all the usual "can't move on" tropes and cringe-inducing dialogue. Not to mention one of the worst song choices for a trailer ever? Eeesh. Here's the...

The cast of River City will team up with Still Game's stars to film an exclusive sketch for this year's BBC Children in Need appeal.

The sketch will see Jack (Ford Kiernan) and Victor (Greg Hemphill) arrive in Shieldinch after winning a competition to watch filming at River City.

Viewers can expect to see some comedy moments as the pensioners interact with several members of the cast and assist with the directors.

Kiernan said: "We're obviously delighted that the two worlds of Still Game and River City are going to collide for BBC's Children in Need. It'll be a strange experience for Jack and Victor to leave a real place like Craiglang for a made-up BBC place like Shieldinch.

"We don't want to give too much away because the element of surprise is everything after all!"

Mary Duffy, National Head of BBC Children in Need, said: "This is the...

Alex Skerratt is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

“Oh my word, Jamie!” Former companion Frazer Hines, alias Jamie McCrimmon, has joined the cast of “a new Scots indie romcom road movie.” Entitled Journey Bound, it tells the story of a young lawyer who chases the love of his life through the Scottish Highlands. Hines will star alongside Ford Kiernan from Still Game, and Clare Grogan from

The post Frazer Hines to Star in New Romcom! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

We absolutely adored My Mad Fat Diary when it hit E4 earlier this year, so we were thrilled when Sharon Rooney got nominated for a Scottish BAFTA (alongside Ford Kiernan and Peter Mullan) for her role as Rae. Given that this is her first major acting role, it's a pretty big achievement - and also probably a rather strange experience. We wanted to get a bit of an idea what it's like being nominated for one of those famous gongs, so we rang up Sharon to talk about period skirts, pyjamas, oinking and much, much more ahead of the ceremony on Sunday. Read on for her 10 BAFTA tips and tricks!

1. Check it really is you that has been nominated.

"It was kind of weird [being nominated]," Sharon said. "It was one of those moments where you go, 'Is that actually me, or is that someone else with the same name?' It was really weird.

Other film nominees include The Wee Man and Fire In The Night.Scroll down for full list of nominees

Paul Wright’s For Those In Peril, about a young man in a Scottish fishing village reeling after a tragic accident, leads the film nominees for the BAFTA Scotland Awards 2013.

The film, which was selected for Cannes Critics’ Week, has four nominations: best actor (George MacKay), writer (Wright), director (Wright) and best film.

Documentaries Fire In The Night and I Am Breathing each got two nominations, as did feature film The Wee Man.

The awards will be held in Glasgow on Nov 17. They honour both Scottish productions as well as Scottish talent working in other UK productions.

Full list of nominees

Film Actor/Actress

Iain De Caestecker Not Another Happy Ending

Martin Compston The Wee Man

George MacKay For Those in Peril

TV Actor/Actress

Ford Kiernan The Field of Blood: The Dead Hour

Peter Mullan [link...

Other film nominees include The Wee Man and Fire In The Night.

Paul Wright’s For Those In Peril, about a young man in a Scottish fishing village reeling after a tragic accident, leads the film nominees for the BAFTA Scotland Awards 2013.

The film, which was selected for Cannes Critics’ Week, has four nominations: best actor (George MacKay), writer (Wright), director (Wright) and best film.

Documentaries Fire In The Night and I Am Breathing each got two nominations, as did feature film The Wee Man.

The awards will be held in Glasgow on Nov 17. They honour both Scottish productions as well as Scottish talent working in other UK productions.

The nominees are:

Film Actor/Actress

Iain De Caestecker Not Another Happy Ending

Martin Compston The Wee Man

George MacKay For Those in Peril

TV Actor/Actress

Ford Kiernan The Field of Blood: The Dead Hour

Peter Mullan The Fear

Sharon Rooney My Mad Fat Diary

Animation...

Still Game is to return for a new stage show, it has been announced.

Ford Kiernan (Jack) and Greg Hemphill (Victor) have ended their six-year feud to reunite for a new project based around their BBC Scotland sitcom.

The pair will meet up with Paul Riley (Winston), Jane McCarry (Isa), Sanjeev Kohli (Navid) and Gavin Mitchell (Boabby) to discuss the new production this week, the Daily Record reports.

The comedy duo - who also co-wrote and starred in Chewin' the Fat - parted ways due to "creative differences" in 2008.

Speaking in January 2012, Hemphill said that filming the series hurt his friendship with Kiernan.

He said at the time: "It's kind of sad, really. It reflects the pressure we were under that we never really acknowledged. We rarely took holidays. Stuff like that, it all bubbled up.

"Maybe in five or ten years we'll come back."

In February this year, Kiernan...

The Britain's Got Talent judge says she was attacked by an unnamed comic, 21st-century comics grapple with homosexuality, and David Brent realises his rock-god dreams

Not much to laugh about in today's top story, as Amanda Holden writes in her autobiography that she was once assaulted by "a famous comedian". The Britain's Got Talent judge claims she was cornered by the unnamed comic at a public event, during a period when she was patching up her marriage to Les Dennis after an affair with Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey. "[Dennis and I] went to an event together," Holden writes, "and on my way back from the loo, I was cornered by a famous comedian, who tried to kiss me and put his hands in places they shouldn't have been. I was scared and tried to push him away … but he wasn't put off … My body went limp, and I just stood there...

Sundance is well and truly over out in Park City, with some very promising films making their debut out in Utah. And with the year’s first big festival complete, we turn our eyes next to the Berlinale, and then shortly after, the Glasgow Film Festival.

The line-up for this year’s Glasgow Film Festival was announced earlier in the month, with an absolutely stellar set of films landing their UK premiere up in Scotland next month.

Régis Roinsard’s Populaire has been selected for the Opening Night Film, with Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing chosen for the Closing Night Film. And in between is a slew of films, including some of the most highly-anticipated of the year: Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines; Neil Jordan’s Byzantium; Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love; and Nicolás López’s Aftershock, with Eli Roth.

The festival has...

Last night I caught up with BBC1’s two-parter The Field of Blood on the iPlayer. Based on the best-selling Denise Mina novel the story has been adapted and directed by David Kane. The story, set in 1982, follows Paddy Meehan (Jayd Johnson), an ambitious young copy girl at a Glasgow newspaper who dreams of finding the big story and fighting injustice. As she thinks she’s found the case to kick-start her career she ends up embroiled in a murder case that comes at a cost to her. David Morrissey plays the surprisingly small role of her sexist and vulgar boss, Devlin.

As Paddy struggles to find her way in a very male dominated and sexist world of journalism she comes under abuse of all manner of drunken Scottish men, but still manages to keep her resolve. Paddy also seems to have the habit of being a nosey cow, I...

Stephen Mangan and Jennifer Saunders are among the stars who have signed up to appear in a new Comic Strip film for Channel 4. The Hunt for Tony Blair, which has been described as a spoof of 1950s film noir, imagines that the prime minister is wanted for murder. Blair, who will be played by Mangan, is hoping to clear his name but after escaping from Number 10 he is forced to go on the run as no-one will hide him. Saunders will star as Margaret Thatcher, while Robbie Coltrane and Inbetweeners star James Buckley will appear as the police officers hunting down Blair. The cast also includes Nigel Planer as Mandelson, Ford Kiernan as Brown, Harry (more)...

London -- Universal Music Publishing has struck a deal with the husband-and-wife creative team of Sascha and Tessa Hartmann -- who have spent five years in production on the CGI-animated movie "Sir Billi" -- to publish five original songs for the movie.

In postproduction, the movie features the singing of Shirley Bassey and the voice of Sean Connery; the pair is together on a feature for the first time since they were both involved in "Goldfinger."

Universal will publish Bassey's version of the title song, "Guardian of the Highlands," with lyrics by Tessa Hartmann, who penned them with Bassey in mind.

Sascha Hartmann composed the music, and Tessa Hartmann wrote the lyrics for the five featured original songs.

Universal and Glasgow-based Billi Prods. remain tight-lipped about the four other artists being lined up for the songs, written by the Hartmanns.

Alan Cumming, Miriam Margolyes, Ruby Wax, Alex Norton, Ford Kiernan,...

London -- The voices of Shirley Bassey and Sean Connery have been drawn together on a feature for the first time since they were both involved in "Goldfinger" back in the day.

Bassey has signed up to sing the title song named "Guardian of the Highlands" for the CGI animated movie "Sir Billi," which stars Connery's voice.

After five years in production, the feature created by husband-and-wife team Sascha and Tessa Hartmann is in postproduction and due for completion in 2010.

Alan Cumming, Miriam Margolyes, Ruby Wax, Alex Norton, Ford Kiernan, Greg Hempill, Barbara Rafferty, John Amabile, Larry Sullivan and U.S.-based newcomer Chris Jai Alex also lend voices to the movie.

Sascha Hartmann said the title track was penned with Bassey in mind and after her management was approached to do it, the singer agreed.

"There was no persuading needed here, I liked the song from the moment I heard it,...

Sean Connery will lend his voice as the star of "Sir BIlli," a CGI animated movie and Shirley Bassey will sing the title song "Guardian of the Highlands." This brings the two together again since the last time they worked on "Goldfinger" in 1964. This has been in production for some five years now. Created by husband-and-wife team Sascha and Tessa Hartmann, the film is now in post-production and set for completion at the end of next year. Also lending their voices are Alan Cumming, Miriam Margolyes, Ruby Wax, Alex Norton, Ford Kiernan, Greg Hempill, Barbara Rafferty, John Amabile, Larry Sullivan and newcomer Chris Jai Alex. The movie focuses on a retired, skateboarding veterinarian who resides in a remote Scottish village. He heads the rescue of an illegal beaver fugitive.

Every once in a while in the world of cinema, the imagery and the music blend so harmoniously and magnificently that they attain legendary status; it's hard to imagine any other combination working quite so well. And one of the best examples of this can be found in the opening titles of the 1964 James Bond film, Goldfinger. Sean Connery's visage combined with the powerhouse voice of Shirley Bassey singing the title track (not to mention Maurice Binder's title sequence) created an indelible cinematic image that resonates as much today as it did back in the '60s.

And now comes word that the singular voice of Shirley Bassey and the thespian talents of Sean Connery will be combined once again — for the first time since 1964 — for the CGI animated movie Sir Billi. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bassey has signed up to sing the title song, "Guardian of...