Gregor Fisher - one of Scotland's greatest exports

 It may seem bizarre that a TV character should become such a national treasure when most of what he utters is completely incomprehensible to anyone outside Glasgow, but that’s down to the brilliance of Gregor Fisher. However, as with other Scottish comedy legends such as Billy Connelly, Rikki Fulton and Stanley Baxter, Fisher is no one-trick pony.

He first came to my attention in BBC Scotland’s sketch show Naked Video back in 1986. We used to tune in every week, welcoming its company of characters into our Essex living room. It was hardly ground-breaking material but nonetheless made us laugh more often than not. Gregor was one of the DIY scientists and also hosted the Outer Hebrides Broadcasting Corporation’s regular news bulletin. However, I distinctly recall the debut of a grubby-vested alcoholic street philosopher who later became Rab C Nesbitt. 

Naked Video was still ongoing when Rab was granted his own series, and the Rab C Nesbitt spin-off soon became one of the most popular series on BBC2. Mum didn’t really ‘get’ it but Dad and I would lap it up. It took a lot to make Dad chuckle out loud but the misadventures of the dysfunctional Nesbitts, Cotters et al often succeeded. Rab’s addresses to the audience – usually prefaced by an indignant “I’ll tell you this!” - about anything from devolution and City of Culture to Christmas marketing were especially entertaining and, for all their fights, he always held a smidgeon of love and respect for his ‘Mary Doll’ (Elaine C Smith), notably when she inflicted a wee ‘Glasgow Kiss’ on a troublesome jobsworth! 

Such was our love of the show that Dad and I attended its live tour in 1991. A cavernous Brentwood sports centre wasn’t ideal but it was both confusing and reassuring that there were no concessions to geography in the language used. The Govan accents were just as impenetrable as they sounded on screen. It really shouldn’t have worked. The series could easily have slipped into parody of Scottish stereotypes but the energetic way Gregor Fisher brought Ian Pattison’s scripts and Rab’s character so vividly to life helped make Rab C Nesbitt a Caledonian classic. Not sure about the twenty-first century revival, though….

Rab wasn’t the only Gregor Fisher creation from Naked Video to spread his comedy wings. ITV turned his ‘Baldy Man’, complete with single-strand combover, into an alternative Mr Bean but it really wasn’t very funny. Far better were the short, sharp Hamlet cigar ads. They didn’t turn me into a smoker but Fisher’s performances were hilarious. 

With Fisher’s star status secured, in the mid-Nineties the Beeb revived The Tales of Para Handy. I’d vaguely recalled The Vital Spark from the early Seventies, featuring John Grieve and Roddy McMillan as the original ‘Para Handy’, but the humour proved rather too gentle for my thirty-something self. I think I watched only one episode, which may or may not have featured this appearance by a young David Tennant. 

I don’t recall giving Gregor’s 2008 series Empty even a single viewing, and I always allow his most famous film, Love Actually, a very wide berth whenever it is broadcast. In 2000 I’m pretty certain I witnessed ITV’s new version of The Railway Children (must have been at Mum and Dad’s!) featuring Fisher in the role of lovable stationmaster Perks. In the trailer I gave a silent cheer when he seemed to share star billing with Jenny Agutter, Richard Attenborough and Michael Kitchen.

At least it demonstrated that Gregor was no longer shackled by the ghost of Rab, nor even a Scottish accent.  I presume he didn’t give Oliver Twist’s Mr Bumble the full Fulton Mackay either, but even his contribution wouldn’t have lured me into the dark world of Dickens for love nor money. 

Indeed I have seen very little of Gregor Fisher in his more mature years. An exception came just after Christmas 2018. Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders was a lovingly-crafted, atmospheric feature-length period piece which had me enthralled. John Malkovich’s turn as an off-kilter Poirot was predictably eye-catching but my attention was diverted by the unheralded appearance halfway through of Gregor as the rather sad, ageing ventriloquist Dexter Dooley, who met a tricky sticky end. 

I would love to have seen the two men swap roles. Rab would have spotted the murderer straight off, and given him a Glasgow Kiss for good measure. That’s the sign of a memorable character and an actor with such a natural gift for comedy.