FORD Kieran and Greg Hemphill admit they would love to write another comedy series together – but are put off by the success of Still Game.
The pair saw their BBC sitcom, which was networked around the UK, run for nine season’s before the cast all faded away in the final episode called That’s Plenty, which aired in March 2019.
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But Greg says they fancy writing for their other comedy creatures including hopeless actor Ronald Villiers from their 1990s sketch show Chewin’ The Fat.
Greg says: “It is a tough one to answer as we do talk about working together all the time.
“But the challenge now is if you’re doing a sitcom, then you’re comparing it to something that’s beloved, and you’ll be thinking ‘How is this going to come off?’
Ford adds: “We wouldn’t want to do something that’s going to come off poorer than Still Game was received.”
And while they are mostly remembered for playing the pesky OAPs, Ford revealed he recently met a star from Chewin’ The Fat that he didn’t recognise.
He explains: “So I’m in the supermarket last week and this full grown man with a baby in his arms is standing there and his wife says to me ‘Do you know who he is? ‘
“I thought she was talking to him, but then she says, ‘That’s the wee boy who asked Karen Dubar for a swatch of her f***y at the ice cream van.’
“I felt about a hundred years old but he was very, very proud of it. He told me that’s his big claim to fame.”
Greg adds: “I sometimes worry about what happens to the kids like the masturbating boy – I mean did we ruin their lives?”
Now their Ford and Greg’s Craiglang favourites are returning in comic book form with the release of He Who Hingeth Aboot Getteth Hee Haw.
It will feature cartoon versions of Jack and Victor along with the rest of the Osprey Heights crew including gossip Isa Drennan, tightfisted Tam Mullen, one-legged Winston Ingram, Boabby the barman and shopkeeper Navid Harrid.
And Ford and Greg are delighted with the results that will tell the stories from the first series which launched in 2002 until the ninth and final run aired in 2019.
Ford said: “We were heavily involved in the process and the different styles of cartoon.
“At first they gave the characters that were like The Aristocats – that sort of French look. We didn’t go for that but we beavered away and they kept presenting us with different options until we finally agreed on these ones.”
Greg, 54, adds: “I love the Easter eggs that are hidden throughout the book. Even on the cover there’s a pound coin on the ground that Tam is staring at.”
But will OAPs’ fruity language be dampden down for their comic book?
Ford, 62, says: “It will be shaved down, but not tamed down.”
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Greg continues: “But we are always looking for things that are going to feel fresh rather than a rehash.
“Exploring this world with these cartoon characters is completely new to us. So we kind of read the book like fans too.”
