October 2022 - The Diary

Spent the first half of October in Runaway Bay, Jamaica but unbelievably was still doing self-tapes from The Caribbean for another couple of exciting feature films! But a brilliant and relaxing trip and great fun

on this wonderful island once again. Back to a cold and drizzly Manchester and back to Glasgow and in time to take part in another Glasgow 48 Hour Film Challenge with the usual gang at Dropshack Films. This year we managed a 7 minute one-take shot of the entire film, having rehearsed it and improvised

for three hours beforehand. Twas flying by the seat of your pants stuff but thrilling to do and the cast were superb, including Olivia Ross (above) and the usual talented Dropshack team and Director Jack Willison.

As usual it was a great shoot and delighted with the results. We won a slew of awards at the ceremony the following week and picked up the Best Film Award, which means the film BAD BEANS goes to LA next year as part of the Filmapalooza Festival. Huge congratulations to Team Dropshack once again!

Also it was nice to reprise the role of 'Tammy Ness' once again, for the 6th time in the 48 Festival! And another of my short films, the eerie REMNANTS is playing this month in the Oregon Screams Horror Film Festival in Portland and here's a fab shot courtesy of Jumpcut Studios, directed by Chris Boyd.

This film will be out next year and is currently doing the rounds of international festivals. Also this month I attended the RTS Scotland Awards ceremony at The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow and had a brilliant time catching up with old friends and delighted to see GUILT - series 2, win the award for Best Drama, in

which I played the shady 'Davie' a dodgy property developer, and beautifully directed by Pat Harkins. Fab catching up with Eric Coulter, Craig Collinson and to meet former Rangers & Liverpool legend Mark Walters, who picked up the award for Best Documenray & Factual for In The Footsteps Of Andrew 

Watson, which is terrific. Managed to get my grippers on his trophy afterwards and had a fab chat with Mark and the Producers later on in the bar. A great night and congratulations to all the Nominees and Winners. Great fun catching up with Mark Barrett and Emma Hamilton pictured below on the night.

Then back in the car and off to Staffordshire and a fascinating trip to St George's Park for a brilliant roleplay with the Football Association. 

Delighted to get a tour of this magnificent complex and to work with the FA on an exciting project with top professionals from the game. Drove back for another NHS roleplay the next day and another raft of self - tapes and submissions for film projects in early 2023. 

 

September 2022 - The Diary

Kicked off September as the MC of my friend Mar Barrett's wedding followed by Irvine Welsh's wedding party on the same day! Great fun at both and honoured to be a part of both special events and had such fun catching up with loads of old pals (and new) in The Caves, Edinburgh, including  Bonnie Prince Bob,

who made me roar with laughter. Top night all round. Then down to London the following Monday for a recall audition for an excellent play and lovely bumping into one of my childhood heroes, Peter Duncan of Flash Gordon & Blue Peter fame at the rehearsal rooms. Read for a couple of parts but sadly no joy!

Back to Glasgow to attend the Celtic v Real Madrid game and a meeting with Charles Hart, father of Celtic keeper Joe, who has written the intro to JUMP! that is now on sale in the official Celtic Shop at Parkhead, as well as catching up with school pals JP Brown and Jonny Kelly. A fab night, despite the

result, but great company and some fascinating stories! I then helped judge on the HB Film Festival, in which I also had a couple of short films screening, including the brilliant 1815, which has been nominated

in a few categories, none of which I am judging I hasten to add! Great to see so many excellent short films and the excellent talent on show and was really hard trimming it down to a shortlist of nominees. My first time as a judge on a film panel and thanks to Gary Hewitt for asking me to be part of it. Another roleplay

for NHS Lanarkshire before jetting off on holiday at the end of September...A much longed for trip back to Jamaica at long last! See you all next month x

August 2022 - The Diary

End of rehearsals in Glasgow and off to the stunning Beacon Arts in Greenock for a final dress rehearsal and then our first performance of PORNO on the main stage to a rocking, full house and our first sold out show! A great send off and we headed through to Edinburgh for the start of the run massively enthused

by the audience reaction in Greenock. Was a special night and thank you to everyone who came along. In between this show and our opening night at The Pleasance Beyond I was back in Glasgow shooting scenes for another Bollywood Feature Film, entitled CAPGRAS with a great cast and crew, including Alex Reece

pictured above and the lovely Sobhita Dhulipala (below). Had a great time working on this film in which I play Dr Allan and was my third Indian feature, having worked on 83 and Sardar Udham previously. 

Then back to Edinburgh and a full 4 week run of PORNO at The Pleasance. The show went down really well

with audiences and critics alike and we got some fantastic reviews for the show. Really enjoyed finally getting the chance to play Simon 'Sick Boy' Williamson after all these years and every moment on stage

felt quite special. I revelled in this role and every audience we had was brilliant and we played to packed out crowds every day. This was my 4th Edinburgh Fringe, having been in Glasgow Hard Tickets (1995) Singin I'm No A Billy, He's A Tim (2005) Letters To Aberlour (2015) and the most memorable.

We got great press coverage and lovely catching up with so many pals during the run in Edinburgh and delighted to have been filmed as part of another documentary I AM IRVINE WELSH on our last night at The Pleasance, in the company of the great man himself and Emma. Thanks to LS Films for coming along

and helping end our run on a huge high and very much honoured to be a part of their brilliant project. The full length version of PORNO will go on tour at some point in 2023. Delighted to have been a part of it.

Also this month a book I helped to research and voiced has been released. JUMP! by JG Nolan is out now and tells the story of Robbie Blair and features a certain Celtic FC legend and of course, my beloved Cathkin Park features heavily in this inspirational novel for children of all ages. Delightful. There was

just time to fit in another couple of roleplays this month for NHS Lanarkshire, before heading back to Glasgow and back on the audition trail once more! A tiring but satisfying month and pleased to have been back on a Scottish stage again, and to complete another run of the International Edinburgh Fringe.

July 2022 - The Diary

 Another flurry of self-tapes this month and then into rehearsals for Irvine Welsh's PORNO at the Vivace Studios in Sauchiehall Street with our cast of Kevin Murphy, Chris Gavin, Lynette Beaton, Scott Kyle and myself as we worked the script down to 50 minutes for the Fringe run, with ticket sales already going

well and lots of excellent press coverage thanks to George Mair of Saltire News, including a lovely piece in the Sunday Mail. We had a brilliant photo shoot in Greenock in July and shot the new show poster as

well! Hard work but will all be worthwhile when we open this brand new show next month in Edinburgh. Also in early July Davie Carswell's THE TOMMY BURNS STORY opened in The King's Theatre in Glasgow and I was delighted to be a Producer on this amazing, atmospheric and completely sold out run

and great catching up with the cast and lots of old pals at the show, which will hopefully return to this stunning venue next year. Also caught up with former Aberdeen & Celtic's Joe Miller this month in Glasgow and hopefully we have a wee project together for 2023 in the pipeline. 

Managed to squeeze in some more Roleplay work this month with The Wheatley Group and then back into rehearsals and some more press interviews and publicity work for PORNO. The article below is

courtesy of The Sunday Mail. Then it was back to London for another excellent Coloplast UK live event but travel chaos as trains were cancelled and rediverted and was even worse on the way back home, in which I had to abandon the train and get to Stanstead Airport and catch the last flight to Glasgow. 

Rehearsals continued apace all July and was doing more Wheatley roleplay gigs during the days in between and a mad busy but exciting and fun month! We were invited on to A State Of Mind's live

event in the St James Shopping Arcade in Edinburgh on our last week of rehearsals and great to be

a part of it and really enjoyed chatting with Paul John Dykes about all things Irvine Welsh, along with the Writer Davie Carswell and our 'Renton' played by Scott Kyle. The event in a pop-up shop was a great

success and lovely catching up with Paul again, having appeared on his other ACSOM podcasts a few

times previously! You can watch a clip of our chat here: A STATE OF MIND Irvine Welsh's PORNO and huge thanks to all involved for having us along. Finally got another offer for a film job and fingers crossed I can somehow fit it in over the next 4 week! A brilliant month and really looking forward to August!

Irvine Welsh's PORNO at The Edinburgh Fringe 2022

Delighted to announce that I shall be playing Sick Boy in Irvine Welsh's PORNO, the stage sequel to Trainspotting next month at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival! This project, which I am co-producing is the culmination of 6 years of hard work by Davie Carswell and myself and we are thrilled to finally get the 

opportunity to bring this brand new show to Edinburgh this summer. We head into rehearsals with a full cast and directed by Felix O'Brien, who directed The Tommy Burns Story previously. We will be on at The Pleasance Beyond at 4.50pm from 3-28th August 2022. Having missed out on playing this character in the 1996 Trainspotting tour, this will be very special for me personally. Hope to see you all there!