Popular Scottish comedy Still Game is returning to TV after almost a decade since the last series.
It comes after show writers and stars Greg Hemphill and Ford Kiernan rekindled their partnership for a sold-out 21-night Still Game Live show run at The Hydro in Glasgow 18 months ago.
The show, which follows the antics of pensioners Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade, was spawned from Greg and Ford’s Chewin’ The Fat sketch show and ran for six series between 2002 and 2007.
The BBC has now announced a new six-part series will be screened later this year on BBC One with the original cast returning to their roles. It will be filmed over the summer at a purpose-built set in BBC Scotland’s Dumbarton Studios.
Ford said: “We’re super happy to come back with the show – we had no idea how much it had been missed until we played the Hydro.
“Myself and Greg are really excited about getting the gang together again and we are putting our all in to make our fantastic audience feel like we’ve never been away.”
Greg added: “We are thrilled to be given this opportunity, with the full support of the BBC Network, to don the bunnets once more. On behalf of all the cast, I’d like to thank Still Game fans for keeping the show alive after all these years. We’ll save a seat for you in the Clansman.”
The new series will see the return of Jane McCarry as Isa, Sanjeev Kohli as Navid, Gavin Mitchell as Bobby, Paul Riley as Winston and Mark Cox as Tam.
Shane Allen, BBC controller of comedy commissioning, described Still Game as a “comedy phenomenon”.
He said: “The new series revisits one of the most iconic comedies of its time, a show which holds a very special place in the hearts of our audience. Ford and Greg are an exceptionally talented writing partnership and we’re looking forward to catching up with Jack and Victor after all these years.”
Reruns of the show have proved popular with audiences and it has also attracted new fans on TV streaming service Netflix.
BBC Scotland’s commissioning editor, Ewan Angus, said: “It’ll be fantastic to see Ford, Greg and the rest of the gang getting up to more comedy capers in Craiglang.
“Our audiences love Still Game. Whenever we show past episodes we are guaranteed big audiences and I know this new series will again delight Still Game’s legions of fans.”
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