September 2024 - The Diary

 Kicked off September with rehearsals for THERE MUST BE SOME WAY OUT OF HERE short film and then into the shoot at another amazing and atmospheric location, a former nuclear bunker in Edinburgh!

Really good team involved in this one and a joy to work with actor & film maker Michael Cooke on a brilliant shoot, Directed by Josh Lambie and great to work with Producer Heather Brown, with whom

I did A TRUE MISMATCH with previously. Shot in black & white, this tense thriller felt more like a stage play in this brilliant set and really proud of our work on this one, my 91st film and 80th credit on IMDB!

Also this month saw the release of my ARRAN commercial on STV and another fun experience with a great cast and crew (pictured below). Back to more roleplay work in September with Glasgow University

and finally got away on holiday to Zante in Greece for a much needed rest! Caught up with old friends on the island and already looking forward to coming back here next year. More auditions and recalls for two

more films later this year and booked more roleplay work with both the Medical School and The Wheatley Group for October and November to round off an excellent Q3 and a great, fun-filled month of work.

August 2024 - The Diary

 Really pleased to be asked back on to THIS IS ACSOM again in August as a Contributor and to spend time with former Celt Rudi Vata on the eve of his book launch, which we recorded at BAAD in The Barras Market. This was followed by more auditions and a bout of Covid-19 which floored me and

caused filming on the short film to be postponed til next month sadly. Shook it off and back to daily training sessions, including a return to Cathkin Park and an interview for An La (BBC Alba) regarding 

the highly controversial fence that has been put in place around the pitch recently. I also restarted my restoration work on the overgrown terracing as the ground has fallen into real disrepair of late and I

cannot sit back and allow it to continue. I will be focusing on this on the @CathkinPark twitter account if you wish to follow the work there. Another television appearance this month as the ARRAN Commercial was aired regularly on STV, pictured below. Great to see it again and congratulations to all involved.

Then another fun night at Sarti's in Glasgow with a meeting of The Hellfire Club with Gavin Mitchell, Tam Dean Burn and Irvine & Emma Welsh. Great fun, food and company once again, followed the

next evening by an invitation to The Barrowlands opening of Kitty's Bar. Great to catch up with our fellow traders and old pals and thanks to Tom Joyes for the invite. Was lovely catching up with my old pal Billy

Sloan, who hosted the evening and we all had a great time in this fabulous, historic old venue. Back to

film business next and trip down to another impressive location for 4 days work on another blockbuster

Bollywood Feature Film, entitled SON OF SARDAAR 2, the sequel to a huge monster hit movie and mostly shot here in Scotland this summer. Had a good few days in tough weather conditions on this

one as we shot at Hopetoun House and South Queensferry, but again great to get a 10th Bollywood Feature Film under my belt and took part in my first ever Indian dance routine, which was as much

fun as it looks! Another memorable shoot and nice to link up with Perry Costello again on this one. Some great people on this, fab locations (and food again!) and great to be a part of and thanks to Veera at RK Casting for this gig. Just time to fit in a fab photo shoot with the brilliant John Cooper at his Finnieston

studios and am delighted with my new 10x8 headshots (see below). Now, let's put them to good use! A really enjoyable August, despite the Covid, and managed to book a few more jobs this month as well.

So, onwards to September and have a couple if gigs lined up and finally booked a wee holiday to Greece!

 

July 2024 - The Diary

 Had a fun and unexpected music video shoot this month at my wee shop at The Barras for the band TRAIL WEST (pictured below) as my dance moves were put to the test in a video completely shot

at the Barras Market, pictured above. Then back to more roleplay work with The Medical School in Glasgow and an ADR session for PSYCHO SEX DOLLS with David Wilde and completion on the Feature Film. Rounded off a quieter month with a guest appearance on THIS IS ACSOM podcast,

hosted by Paul John Dykes at Blackfriars Bar in Glasgow. You can hear the podcast in full on this link

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HikzieEHbzI&t=3291s Great fun and nice to be asked back on to A CELTIC STATE OF MIND again, and am pictured with the team below! A great reaction to this wee

appearance and looking forward to the next one. Booked another short film role for August at the tail end of the month and another cracking project to look forward to!

June 2024 - The Diary

 Back to more roleplay work this month, firstly with The Wheatley Group in Glasgow over two weeks, followed by another raft of Glasgow University roleplays with The Medical School, which were great fun and took up most of June. I did manage to squeeze in another day's shoot on Feature Film PSYCHO SEX 

DOLLS, which we shot back at The Barras at the fabulous Randall's Antique Market, doing some pick-ups and transitional scenes and a bit of ADR for the final cut of the film, due out to investors at the end of

July and I got a sneak preview this month. Shockingly funny and should do well! Also landed more auditions and a couple of offers for film work later in the year, rounding up another positive month.

May 2024 - The Diary

 Off to Essex this month to shoot for a week on another Bollywood movie, entitled UMBARO, with a stellar cast and an absolutely brilliant experience. All night shoots in a fab location with a great team

in which I play a Hotel Manager and got to speak a bit of Gujurati at the end of the film! Loved working on this and to be back on night shoots again. Arduous but brilliant and really enjoyed the discipline of the work on this one and was a joy to be directed by Abhishek Shah, pictured below. 

Loved working with this cast and spent a lovely week in Essex shooting long hours and playing cricket in the grounds with the crew. A fab experience all round, then straight back to Greenock to restart filming

on last month's film, ANOTHER LOVE STORY the very next day! Lots of driving all month on various shoots and travelled the length and breadth of the country working, which was great. Big fun on this one

in which I play a Studio Manager in scenes with Jiya Shankar (pictured above) who was delightful to work with and did a nice job of this one. Again, lovely cast and crew and great food on this set! Great

to work with my old mate Perry Costello again on this and the photo above is courtesy of Perry! Back to the television studio for the rest of the month. Took a break to go to the Celtic match with the brilliant Tony Curran and watch a fab 3-2 victory over St Mirren and to watch the league trophy presentation

afterwards. A superb day and huge thanks to Mr C for the ticket! Great to meet up with former Celtic legend Joe Miller afterwards in Glasgow West End too (pictured below)! Mat was the busiest month

of the year so far and wrapped on the TV show in the final week, before shooting a lovely commercial for Arran Aromatics at the beautiful Mar Hall Golf & Spa Resort. Again a fun job with just lovely people and a fab cast (pictured below) in which I play a proud father at his daughter's wedding. Bit of a different

role for me, but great fun and the commercial will be broadcast on STV later in the year. Am very thankful to everyone I worked with and casters this month, it was a total blast!

April 2024 - The Diary

Straight back into more roleplay work at the beginning of April and a return to Glasgow University for another round of student exams. Always interesting work to do with a very good group of actors and a broad range of different scenarios to work through. Delighted to announce that the brilliant 1815 short

film is available on STV Player for the next year, a deserved afterlife for a quite brilliant film. Then onto a quick podcast appearance to promote PSYCHO SEX DOLLS with the cast and Director David Wilde in advance of our Autumn release. Great fun catching up with everyone again from this fun shoot. Then back

to The Midlands and a brilliant gig working with The FA at the amazing St George's complex with top clubs from The Premiership. Fascinating work once again and great to back working here. Delighted to then book a Bollywood feature film, ANOTHER LOVE STORY and did my first day of filming down

in Greenock this month. Great to see old pals on this one in the crew and thanks to Rachita Kapoor for casting me. Great fun. I also booked a television role this month, and commenced filming. More of that in the months to come, but am obviously thrilled to be a part of this show! Finished off a mental busy month

booking another film role before heading up to Dundee to open another wee concession for our fashion store Zico Fashion Boutique as part of The Leith Collective in the city's Overgate Shopping Centre! 

Costume fittings, readthrough and rehearsals followed at the end of April as we began shooting the TV show and more auditions for some exciting projects later in the year. An excellent month!

March 2024 - The Diary

 Thankfully March was incredibly busy, with lots of travel, more jobs booked for 2024 and worked with some great people this month. The trailer dropped early March for Feature Film PSYCHO SEX DOLLS

which you can watch here: PSD Trailer which was well received and already looking forward to it's release in the Summer. Then back to The Woolfson and Golden Jubilee for more Medical School roleplay work for three weeks. We also celebrated the one year anniversary of our fashion business ZICO at

the world famous Barras Market! Thank you to all our customers and friends who have popped in this year which has been a great success. More roleplay work and then onto my first short film of the year, with

a fun shoot on RHINOMAN. This comic book-inspired short will be developed into a Feature in which I

play the villainous gangster MacFadjin in a fun scene shot in Partick, Glasgow and Directed by my old pal Douglas Sannachan. You can watch the scene here: RHINOMAN Trailer and another fun project with more shoots to follow later this year. Next up was a fun night at The St Andrews Sporting Club as a guest of Irvine Welsh and a fine night of boxing in great company, compered by Hugh Keevins. Having boxed

myself at both Clydeview BC and The Osprey BC it was great to be back again amongst the fighters and boxing crowd and thank you to all at the St Andrews Club for a brilliant evening at the Radisson Blue.

I was interviewed by Stephen McGowan for The Scottish Daily Mail this month regarding the current situation at my beloved Cathkin Park, which is pictured below. As the owner of Third Lanark AC I am obviously very disappointed to see the pitch now fenced off as stated here. A sad state of affairs indeed.

More exciting auditions followed this month and thanks to Karen Hough for the opportunities already. Booked another two film jobs this month and then it was back to The Glasgow CCA for a Short Film Festival screening of MILKGUM with Mark Barrett and a fun evening and congratulations to all involved.

To London again the following day and a return to Balham and again great fun catching up with family in London before racing back to perform in another COLOPLAST UK roleplay at the lovely Glasgow Central Hotel with old friends. A really fun and busy month then was capped by a trip to the beautiful

Tyndrum in The Highlands for a brilliant job. As mentioned last month I landed a fab role in short film BURIED alongside my pal Stephen Kerr (1815) and Written & Directed by David McCormack-Vance.

This was a tough shoot but quite exhilarating with a great script and a brilliant, talented and friendly crew and excellent camera equipment, against an epic background. Really enjoyed working on this and had a 

great time back in The Highlands again. There is still another couple of scenes to shoot but will keep you posted on when and where this brilliant film will be screened. An amazing shoot to complete a very fun and really enjoyable month.