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!