December 2017 - The Diary

Delighted to see Feature Film COLD-BLOODED KILLERS is also now being screened on Amazon Prime UK, in which I play another villainous character, Fraser McCabe (pictured below) and there is already talk of a sequel going ahead later in 2018, so a great start to December's Diary..!

Back to touring duties with LITTLE ULLA and just lovely gigs in Paisley's Foxlea and Glasgow Kelvin Early years Centres and I am sooo enjoying this tour! Great to be back in the van and on the road again and the sheer joy this little show brings the children is a delight to behold (photo below)

and lovely working alongside Clare McGarry again this year. There were a few film screenings to squeeze in this month, first up was the final Cast & Crew showing of Feature Film CLEEK at the rather swanky 200 St Vincent Street venue in Glasgow City Centre. Well done to all involved in finally completing the picture and looking forward to it's next life at film festivals in 2018. Photo below courtesy of the lovely Jemima Spence, who also makes a cameo in the film. Then back on the

road with LITTLE ULLA and more funny and very lively gigs in Eaglesham Primary School, followed by Netherlee Nursery in Clakston. Then off to Whiteinch Primary and Campsie View, followed by Tinto Nursery in Symington and then North again to the Geoff Shaw Centre in

Toryglen for more loud and wonderfully received shows. Really enjoyed this my 11th Scottish Tour of my career and performing in this lovely show.Photos courtesy of Kirsty O'Neil at 3D-Drumchapel. 

Then nipped back into Glasgow for a CCA screening of WIGILIA with my cast-mates and our lovely Director Graham Drysdale as part of the 2017 GRAMNet Film Festival with an excellent Q&A after the screening and the first time I have seen this beautiful indie film on the big screen.

Photo above courtesy of Malone, taken post screenings at the CCA in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.
Back into the van the following morning and off to the first of two trips this month to Edinburgh with LITTLE ULLA. First up was Castleview Primary in Craigmillar, yet another really fun gig and the

children and staff were fabulous and fully joined in with the show throughout. Then raced back to Glasgow for an hysterically funny dinner with Irvine Welsh, John White and Gavin Mitchell at Sarti's in Renfield Street and am still rocking with laughter as I write. Brilliant fun and all the chaps were on fine form indeed! Here we all are below, getting into the Christmas Spirit!! The #1DavidMoyesAppreciationSociety is now official. What...a...laugh this night was!

Also this month was my appearance in Tiger Aspect's excellent new daytime game show, ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES on BBC One and a huge thanks to my cast mates and friends in the crew from the old days. Loved this job and delighted to be the first 'killer' to elude the entire studio audience of the whole series! Special thanks to Producer Miles Goodwin, photo below courtesy of the lovely & very funny Sean Higgs, of me in character as the dastardly and devious Rev. Reese..!

On the road again to Clydebank Town Hall and another couple of lovely audiences for LITTLE ULLA in a venue I previously filmed HIGH ROAD many moons ago, being tried and jailed in the cells underneath this building, so familiar and pleasant memories at this gig! Again the staff were brilliant here and been a common theme on this tour. Much appreciated indeed.

Then back for another trip to Edinburgh's Storytelling Centre for two lovely shows in this excellent venue, followed by Meiklewood Nursery and a wonderful gig at Kelburne Park School in Glasgow. Off to Acredyke Nursery next followed by trips to Twechar and Casa Dei Bambini in Hamilton.

and finally we reached our final destination at an old favourite of mine, Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline for 3 days and 6 fun-filled great wee shows. I have performed many times here and have loved it since I first played Abanazer in ALADDIN in 2000 with Take Two Productions. Delighted to end

our fantastic tour with 2 sold-out performances in Dunfermline and been a great 35 shows to end the year on a real feel-good high. Adored working with Clare McGarry & Bill Wright again this year and to bring a bit of Christmas magic to so many children this festive period. twas good food for the soul this gig and loved every second of working with Grinagog Theatre Company. And so ends another

busy and varied year's work! Delighted to have worked with so many talented actors, directors and crews this year and a huge thank you to my agent Carolyn Cutler & Patrick Hambleton Management for all of the opportunities they found me in 2017. And 2018 is already looking like another busy and interesting year for me! Thank you to all of you who have liked and messaged this blog over the last 12 months and via my Official Website https://simonweir.weebly.com Much appreciated! Happy New Year to all of you!

November 2017 - The Diary

Kicked-off November with a fun costume fitting in Glasgow for an exciting new Sky Atlantic series MELROSE in which I am playing Angus. Here I am below with our wonderful costume designer Keith Madden at MacGregor & McDuff in Bath Street with our lovely assistant. Then on to the set

for make-up checks and delighted to be a part of this huge production and superb cast and got a particular thrill from being surrounded by so many American 1980s cars used to turn the city into New York for a week. From what I have seen this is going to look brilliant and a huge thanks to my agent Carolyn Cutler and to Casting Director Michael at Nina Gold for this opportunity. Am loving

every second of it! I had a break for a couple of weeks, so it was back to playing dodgy MSP Ewan Ford in David Wilde's CRIMELORD series in Glasgow city centre and more fun scenes to get my teeth into. Great to hear that both this series and David's other feature film COLD-BLOODED KILLERS have also been snapped-up by Amazon Prime, as has FAST ROMANCE, directed by Carter Ferguson, so I now have 4 different projects airing on Amazon Prime by the end of the year.

Shot above is taken from the CRIMELORD shoot this month. This episode will air in January 2018 on Amazon Prime. Then back into pirate guise and more excellent live gigs at Greenock, Glasgow Garage and finally Edinburgh Three Sisters.  Photo below courtesy of The Garage, Glasgow.

Happy to have reached the milestone of 50 live events as the mercurial Sir Henry Morgan and have enjoyed each one of them immensely and a huge thanks to Karen Cunningham & all of our team at RPM over the last 3 years. Photograph below courtesy of IAMVIP at the Three Sisters, Edinburgh.

Then off to the amazing West Wycombe House in High Wycombe for night shoots on Sky Atlantic series PATRICK MELROSE with a stellar cast and our wonderful Director Edward Berger and Crew. Utterly thrilled to be working with the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Jessica Raine, Gary Beadle, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Tim McMullan, Margo Stilley, Georgia Maguire, Julian Firth, Bruce Panday

 and Morfydd Clark in a rather sumptuous location and of course, in fabulous Highland costume, (Hunting MacGregor tartan, in honour of my Highland Ancestry!) Huge thanks to all the cast and crew for making me feel so welcome and thrilled to be a part of this wonderful production.

And after an unforgettable night shoot at this stunning location(photo below courtesy of Gary Beadle) it was back into the car and a long return drive to Scotland for an extra CAPTAIN MORGAN

live gig at Edinburgh's THREE SISTERS followed by another at ATIK in Edinburgh and the end of another successful run this year! Delighted to have booked more of these gigs in January 2018 and nice to already have more work in the diary for next year. Then straight into a week's rehearsal of

our Christmas Show LITTLE ULLA and lovely working with Clare McGarry and Bill Wright again. We worked together last year on ALADDIN and got to rehearse on our fantastic set on day 1!! A few furious days work and into our first preview show at Barmulloch Community Centre in front 

of an invited audience of local children, who all really enjoyed it and a great start to our busy 20 venue tour in December. So a big thanks to all of the wonderful, helpful and friendly staff once again at Barmulloch Community Centre for a second year running, for looking after us all so well. 

Been a tough week and a really busy month but very satisfying having worked with some great people again and to still have a full diary of work for the remainder of the year. And I am always learning , picking up new skills, pushing myself and working hard on my stage-craft in all of these different mediums in order to become a more well-rounded performer. Also very pleased to see my 'back catalogue' of feature film work finding a new audience this month on Amazon Prime! 

October 2017 - The Diary

And another busy October begins with the news that both IN PLAIN SIGHT and T2 TRAINSPOTTING have been nominated for this year's Scottish BAFTAs and wish both all the best for the big night!

For me it was back to more CAPTAIN MORGAN gigs in Glasgow's Cathouse and yet another brilliant,fun gig with the usual team & a great audience! Then it was onto my 19th Feature Film with an appearance as 'The Auctioneer' in Scottish Indie CROOKED FRAMES from the Thief Of Brisco in Edinburgh with a superb cast and crew and a really lovely scene. Here is my POV of our lovely

auction crowd on our night shoot in lovely Leith! Great fun and looking forward to seeing the finished product, due out in 2019. Great fun shooting this scene with John-James Colvin in the Edinburgh Auction House and thanks to directors Craig Henderson and Andrew Dean and their

excellent and friendly crew for a great experience. Here we are above, courtesy of Laura Hamilton and below here's a wee sneak preview of me in action as 'The Auctioneer'. Great job. Loved it! Two days later and another fun film set, shooting short film EVERY LOVE STORY in Loch Katrine as

part of this year's 48 Hour Film Challenge with regular collaborators Drop Shack Films. Lovely working with my former MERCHANT OF VENICE co-star Julie Martis again on this beautifully shot film, directed by Jack Willison & his brilliant crew in such a stunning part of the world. Photos

below are courtesy of Sean Campbell. This was the 7th year in a row I have taken part in this worldwide competition and I always really thrive on the sheer Herculanean effort required to write, shoot, edit & deliver a full film in only 2 days and we got really lucky with the weather on a tough but brilliant shoot.

After a quick calculation I currently have 12 film and television projects still to be released as well as another 4 currently doing the Festival Circuit at the moment and proud of the work I have done in all of these. Delighted to hear that COPS & MONSTERS is now live on Amazon Prime as of 27th October also! So a huge well done to my long-time collaborator Fraser Coull and his team for achieving this milestone and hopefully we will now be able to press ahead with a second series.

Another great gig at Campus Glasgow with CAPTAIN MORGAN live with the wonderful Marganettes and a great crowd and superb staff and DJ and a superb night all round and only one more gig to go to complete another campaign for the third year in a row and as usual, such fun to play the famous old Buccaneer Sir Henry Morgan in my native city on a Friday night!

Next day I was off to Film City Govan to shoot an interview for Purple TV/BBC Alba n a very exciting football documentary, to be aired in January 2018. Will reveal more about this television show nearer the time!

Lovely interview with presenter Margot McCuaig (above) whom I first spoke to when doing SINGIN I'M NO A BILLY, HE'S A TIM in 2005 in The Edinburgh Fringe and nice catching up on the intervening years. Nice way to end an interesting month's work with my 35th television show credit!

September 2017 - The Diary

More exciting auditions this month and another excellent Scotland Writers FC victory over the brilliant United Glasgow FC, a 6-3 win having been 0-3 down in the first half! Well worth the blood-filled sock afterwards! Here we all are below at the Firhill Complex, post-match:

Then more auditions and self -tapes this month, before two COLOPLAST UK roleplay gigs in Leeds and London, before heading back to Scotland and the start of another RPM contract playing Sir Henry Morgan with the first gig in Glasgow at Katie's Bar in John Street. Love working with

This team once again and to play this wonderful character for the third year running. (All photos courtesy of Katies Bar,Glasgow and © Edigraphy Zebrowska Photography.) More exciting production meetings with my business partners at Junkyard Dog Films and adding to our slate of future projects. Delighted also to have landed a cameo role in Short Film BUNNY, shooting in 

December and to be cast in another Indie Scottish Feature Film CROOKED FRAMES, shooting next month in Edinburgh & The Highlands. Both cracking scripts, great cast & creatives and thrilled to become a part of them both. Here's the pre-production poster for my next feature, courtesy of

The Thief Of Bristo Productions and can't wait to work with these guys in a lovely role and had a great chat with the Director Andrew Dean about their plans for the film. Sadly our Scottish tour of Anne Hogg's BUTTERFLY was cancelled just before we commenced rehearsals, but hopefully we will run it again in the future.

Up and down to London again for a few good auditions and then more RPM gigs in Glasgow and Dundee's Underground Niteclub, followed by voice-over demos at Radio Clyde and pre-production on an exciting BBC Alba football documentary I will be appearing in during October. 4 weeks of

no work and suddenly doing 3 jobs in one day.. #actorslife !! Managed to book some more work for November and December and this year is set to end on a high. Really happy with the work I am doing at the moment and long may it continue. Having auditioned lots this year it is really nice to be booking jobs again and filling my Equity diary up!! An exhausting but exhilarating month and lots more news to come over the next few months. Thank you to all the cast, crews & creatives I've been fortunate enough to work with this month, you've all been brilliant, lovely people. Onwards!!!

BUTTERFLY & OUT OF THE BAD 2017 Scottish Tour Announced!

We are delighted to announce that BUTTERFLY & OUT OF THE BAD will be going on a Scottish Tour this autumn! So if you missed us in February and at The Fringe you will have a chance to catch BOTH plays on the road!! Our dates and venues are:

13th October - The Brunton - Mussleburgh
20th October - The Barony - Bo'ness
22nd October - Biggar Municipal Hall - Biggar Little Festival
25th October - Oran Mor - Glasgow
27th October - Hamilton Palace - Hamilton
1st November - The Beacon - Greenock

2nd November - Eastwood Theatre - Giffnock

August 2017 - The Diary

I was something of a 'social butterfly' this month with an invitation to attend Selladoor's new show FLASHDANCE press night at The Kings, Glasgow. Having worked with them on KIDNAPPED it was lovely catching up with the Producers & Creatives and old friends this night & the show will be a huge hit methinks. Always great to open with a loud Glasgow audience!!

Then off to The Grosvenor Cinema in Ashton Lane to watch our webseries COPS AND MONSTERS screened for press and investors and great fun catching up with everyone who worked so hard on the show and always nice to see your work on the big screen! Nice to meet up with Carter Ferguson, Anne Nicholson and Bryan Larkin at the screening (see below) which went down really well and will hopefully lead to a second series soon. I worked with Bryan and Carter on FAST ROMANCE and

Anne edited my debut film GET SHIRTY as a Director a few years ago and great fun meeting up with them again. Look forward to working with this talented bunch again at some point! Then onto

another reunion with a fabulous day out with my old HIGH ROAD co-stars in Glasgow and not

laughed so much in a long time remembering some of the wonderful times we had on that show. Just loved catching up with Alan McHugh, Keith Warwick and Andy Cameron and felt like I was back in the dressing room at the old Scottish Television building in Cowcaddens with this lot in the 1990s..! Here we are pictured in the Ho Wong Restaurant still giggling like school kids after all these years!

I made a (very) brief appearance as 'Arthur's GP' in BBC 1 series TRUST ME the same evening..blink and you'll miss it, but really enjoyed working on the show with the wonderful Paul Copley and Jodie Whittaker and directed by John Alexander. You can catch up on this second episode pictured below here : www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0920ck0/trust-me-series-1-episode-2

Delighted also to be asked to shoot a '1970s flashback' cameo scene in new Scottish short film REGRETS with a fab cast, including Sarah McCardie as my poor long-suffering wife! Here's a wee sneaky peak at our scene below, courtesy of our lovely Director Mandy Sykes. It is a dark tale in

which I play another nasty and psychopathic individual and lovely to work with Sarah again for the third time in the last 6 months! We were all smiles though come wrap time! (Photo by Sarah McCardie). Pleased to shave off my 1970's moustache afterwards though! Lovely cast and crew to

work with and nice to work with some familiar faces on this production and really enjoyed our scene together. Then more meetings and a busy end to the month! And lovely catching up with another of my KIDNAPPED co-stars Jamie Laird in Glasgow this month.

July 2017 - The Diary

Into the second half of 2017 now and commenced the month with a couple of really exciting auditions and booked more work for the end of the year. Then back to football duties with the Scotland Writers FC in a hard-fought 4-2 victory over the Skara Braengers FC, a team of archaeologists at Toryglen. Glasgow.(Photo below c/o Karyn Dougan). Back on the audition

trail with more self-tapes and commercial castings in London, involving a 19 hour car trip there and back in one day! This is the life of a Scottish jobbing actor these days! Also recorded a fun podcast with my CRIMELORD director David Wilde in Glasgow's CCA and you can have a listen here https://soundcloud.com/david-wilde-687045343/chat-with-crime-lord-cast-member-actor-simon-weir and again, for Part 2 here https://soundcloud.com/david-wilde-687045343/chat-with-crime-lord-cast-member-actor-simon-weir-part-2

Also this month I completed filming on a brand new daytime TV show with a great cast and many friends on the brilliant crew and just lovely working with the old gang again. I will reveal more about this show in upcoming months, but really looking forward to it hitting the small screen later in the year!

And finally, I have at long last designed a website for my Acting work, past and present, so please check it out if you have a minute! View it here http://simonweir.weebly.com  A theatre tour also potentially booked this month and a cracking end to an exciting old month! Roll on August...!

June 2017 - The Diary

The month started brightly with more 'CAPTAIN MORGAN' live gigs in Edinburgh's The Three Sisters Bar and McSorleys Bar with the usual team and great fun all round with brilliant staff & customers. Then it was off to Leeds again for another COLOPLAST UK corporate roleplay event at the lovely Marriott Hotel with a lovely group of actors and nurses in attendance. Back to Glasgow and pirate gigs at the Hamilton Palace and AXM Niteclubs once again. Huge thanks to Editor Simon Houston and journalist Marc Deanie at 'The Sun' for a lovely T2 TRAINSPOTTING article below!

This month also saw the DVD release of T2 and great to have so much lovely feedback from those who are just seeing it for the first time. Also had great fun playing for The Scotland Writers FC again at Glasgow Green against the Scottish Comic Creators FC in a triumphant 5-0 victory (see below)

Photo above is courtesy of Karyn Dougan. Then off to Cushion Glasgow for our final CAPTAIN MORGAN gig of this run and another contract completed and yet another great,fun gig to finish off our latest run.

And so a really positive month endeth and although none of my recent castings booked jobs I have been in the room with some top directors and casters and delighted to have been given these opportunities of late. Booked more work for September and October and after a bit of a slow start this year now seems to settling down again! Onwards...