May 2023 - The Diary

May began with an interview with the lovely Patrick Stafford, who is writing a book about one of my previous television shows and met up with him in Little Italy for a great chat. The book will be out next year and more of that to come. Here we are post-chat pictured below! And as it was also my 50th birthday

that day, met up with my family for a lovely meal at the famous Ashoka West End in Ashton Lane!

Then into more excellent roleplay work with Glasgow University once again in both training and exam

situations with a great bunch of actors and now have lots more booked in for the next 8 weeks. Long days but really enjoyable work and good fun catching up with lots of old actor friends in Glasgow (below).

Then it was off to the Glasgow Detal School for more roleplay work with their final year exams and back to our wee shop at The Barras at weekends, which is going really well. Delighted to have former Celtic player and podcaster Si Ferry in this month and great chat, having played in the Old Firm Greats together

a couple of years ago, pictured above. More roleplay work with NHS Lanarkshire this month and Advo Health, followed by a voice over for old pal Douglas Sannachan's new short film RHINOMAN,which

is currently in pre-production. Back to Zico Fashion Boutique and a surprise visit from a documentary film crew who asked me and fellow Trader Eddie to do some pieces to camera for The Wu Tang Clan, in advance of their concert in Glasgow's Ovo Hydro later this summer! One of my favourite bands from

the 1990s and delighted to be a part of the film which will play behind the band on the screens on the day! More self-tapes this month, a few near misses and a couple of film offers now in for June. Rounded off the month with another series of roleplays with the Wheatley Group with a great team, pictured below. Been a

good month work-wise and auditions-wise and roll on June, which is looking really busy already!

April 2023 - The Diary

April started as March ended with another round of auditions and lots of roleplay work, kicking off with a trip back down to London to work with King's College Medical School and a return to Balham, another

part of the city that is close to my heart! Great fun job this one and managed to get along to our suppliers to buy more fab stock for the shop and met up with my wee sister Lucy in Whitechapel for coffee as she

was on a research trip to nearby Bethnal Green. Then drove back to Glasgow for another three days of Glasgow University Medical School roleplay work with another great group of actors and students and

delighted to meet up with former Celtic & Manchester United legend Brian McClair who pooped in to Zico Fashion Boutique for a chat on the Saturday. More excellent auditions and three offers now in for

more feature films this summer and really looking forward to getting back on set in London and Bristol

and this month also saw the release of the Origins comic series, seen above, entitled DEVIL'S FOOL and out this month! You can pre-order this work of art here https://ko-fi.com/originsofthelaoich/shop  April

also saw the 20th anniversary of the airing of the last ever episode of TAKE THE HIGH ROAD in which I played the villain Paul Lafferty and I dug out these photos from my days on set to share on social media and have fond memories of the show and all the cast & crew who worked on it. Then back to

Edinburgh for a couple more weeks of excellent work with The Wheatley Group alongside the brilliant Carly Craig and Ewan Hunter, followed by more film work, more of which to come next month! 

March 2023 - The Diary

March began brightly with a slew of auditions and more bookings and a series of dates booked in now for Glasgow University Medical School roleplays (see photo below!) and again was reunited with loads of old friends from tonnes of previous shows and great fun indeed. Then back to London for an amazing shoot

with Royal Historic Palaces on their short film on the life of ANNE BOLEYN. I was cast in this a while back and drove to a wonderfully atmospheric and deserted Hampton Court Palace to film this epic tale

and one of my favourite costumes of all time! Worked with some top people on this job and was a real treat to play the Machiavellian Thomas Cromwell at long last! We have a family connection to the tragic Queen Anne and shooting in the very rooms in which she lived and Cromwell worked added a real

authenticity to the film. Shot all of my scenes and voice-over and straight back up to Scotland to start on another excellent indie Feature Film in which I was cast last month. Again, great fun to be reunited with old pals including Still Game's Sanjeev Kholi (see photo below) on this new film, a brilliant sci-fi story

entitled THE DRAW, written and Directed by Tom Ruddock. One of the nicest Crews and Casts I have ever worked with and really enjoyed both films I shot this month. Then into more GU Medical School roleplay work before heading back through to Edinburgh to shoot my final scene on THE DRAW.

Also managed to catch up with Paul Dykes at A STATE OF MIND Studios for a very positive meeting and then tracked back to the Capital to meet up with Irvine Welsh for another fun afternoon and great to see

him again and again laughed like a drain all day (see photo below). Back to Glasgow for more roleplay work with both The Wheatley Group and Glasgow University and more auditions, resulting in another

pencilled role for May! And, as mentioned last month, we got the lease for a new fashion store and managed buying trips to London before finally opening in late March! Having had 2 shops previously in Glasgow's West End, at Ruthven Lane and Queen Margaret Drive, we are delighted to announce that 

our third ZICO FASHION BOUTIQUE is now open at The Barras Market, every weekend from 10am-4pm. Already having a ball here and great to be a part of this famous old corner of Glasgow and been fun seeing lots of old faces once again. Thanks so much to everyone who popped along this weekend. And

just time to add that BAD BEANS, our latest award-winning short film for the 48 Film Festival scooped an prestigious Audience Award at Filmapalooza in Los Angeles! Huge congratulations to all the fabbo

Dropshack Team who were there to pick up the award. Booked more work for next month and great to have the first screen work completed this month. And thanks to my agent IAM for the opportunities!

 

February 2023 - The Diary

The month began with more motorbike adventures in preparation for a commercial gig later in the year! Great fun being back on two wheels again after so long! I was put through my full license test in the 90's when shooting HIGH ROAD for STV (see below photos with Annie Myatt and Gary Hollywood).

Straight back into Roleplay work this month, with a trip back down to Birmingham for a COLOPLAST UK live event with the usual team of pals and great fun once again. Then a training session with a new London roleplay company for upcoming gigs in March and back to Glasgow and more auditions and self

tapes for some quite brilliant projects. None worked out but great to be in the running! Back to more roleplay work with NHS Lanarkshire and put in an application for a new fashion store we are planning to

open soon...More details to come! February was really busy with corporate work around the country for some great clients and working with lots of old friends again, which was a joy. Lots of biking, training and travel this month and then back to more auditions and started more roleplay work with the Wheatley Group. Great fun this month and booked my first film role for 2023!

January 2023 - The Diary

Happy New Year! As is tradition, we welcomed the new year in my MacTavish ancestral home of Kilmartin in beautiful Argyll, seen below! It is always a lovely trip and the weather was superb and a great way to kick off another busy year, as I have a few jobs already now in the diary.

Delighted to land more work early in January 2023, with zoom Roleplays with NHS Lanarksire once again, followed by several face-to-face Roleplay gigs with Barrow & Parker in Glasgow with more booked in for next month. Then a series of really exciting auditions from my fab agent IAM, and

was cast in a brilliant short film on ANN BOLEYN, playing Thomas Cromwell, which we shoot in London in March, from a tape I recorded in late December. Another infamous historical figure whom I will relish playing (portrait below) and delighted to book in my first screen role for 2023. More tapes

and booked another round of roleplay work for next month. Next up was another Wheatley roleplay in Glasgow with a great cast and more NHS roleplay work on Teams this month. Finally treated myself to a new motorbike in January, my first in over 20 years! Many thanks to my old pals at Victor Devine in 

Anderston for this little beauty! Back to more self-tapes at the tail end of the month and another Bollywood feature film is in the pipeline, which is my 4th and are always great fun, more details

to come next month on that one! Picked up lots of costumes and props this month from The Barras and Treasure Bunker as well as Ebay for another film project I am co-writing at present and have a few trips down south booked in for next month for more roleplay work and a few Festival screenings to attend.

Finally got a chance to visit the brilliant ACSOM studios in East Lothian this month and great fun catching up with old pal Paul John Dykes and the team. Delighted to receive my copy of his epic tome THE CELTIC JERSEY at last and looking forward to working on a new project with the A State Of Mind team later this year. Huge thanks to all involved for a great trip through this month.

All told, a very decent start to 2023...

December 2022 - The Diary

December saw the recording of another series of our retro football podcast, SHOOT THE BREEZE! with Tom Brogan and Andy Smith. To celebrate the wonderful Qatar 22 World Cup we recorded three special 

episodes to look back on previous tournaments in 1974, 1982 and the current, quite brilliant tournament which ended in a thrilling victory for Argentina on penalties against France. Our brilliant guests were Andy Cameron and Graham Lambert (Inspiral Carpets) and are available on Youtube now. Listen back to the recent episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TmIHoVvww0&feature=youtu.be

Back to a series of excellent roleplays with Blue Beetle this month, when called in to cover the title role of MOTHER GOOSE in Glasgow Arts fabulous touring pantomime once again! Thanks to Mari Binnie and the cast and crew for welcoming on to the show, where I opened in Maryhill Community Centre, then to

Barmulloch and a final two shows at Knightswood Community Centre. Loved being back on stage with these guys and all shows were sold out and the audiences were just brilliant. An unexpected but fab end

to the year and a second stage show of 2023. A brilliant script by Alan McHugh and a great cast to work

with once again, having toured with Glasgow Arts previously with Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty And The Beast. A joy to have been a part of! Then back in to more podcasts and roleplay work with NHS Lanarkshire and then to Master Of Ceremonies duties at my beautiful sister Lucy's wedding to Simon Craig at the University Chapel and party at The Tall Ship in Glasgow, photograph below! An honour to

be asked and this was yet another wonderful wedding in 2023. A couple of exciting auditions to end the year with too, so fingers crossed I will have some good news to report soon. Short film REMNANTS is now available to watch here @shortly_film on Twitter. Ended 2023 with another great, fun evening

with Irvine Welsh as The Hellfire Club reconvened in Glasgow in late December. Great to catch up and a lovely end to another busy and interesting year. Proud to have worked on lots of good productions this year and travelled all over again working with good people. Thank you to all my cast mates, directors

casting directors and producers I have met and worked with in 2022. It has been a blast! Personal highlights for me have been playing Sick Boy in PORNO at The Edinburgh Fringe, adding another Bollywood feature film to the CV, doing panto again and appearing in two books this award winning year!

 

November 2022 - The Diary

More auditions...unsuccessful I might add! But onwards and this has been another bumper year of castings and self-tapes for some amazing productions, so am quite content to keep on plugging away. But even after over 30 years, a 'no' still stings! Busied myself with more roleplay work this month and shot a 

commercial for Merchant City Medical in Glasgow (above) and thanks to Paul and all the team. Back to more roleplay work with Sheffield University and NHS Lanarkshire once again. Been a great year for my corporate work with over 50 roleplay jobs now completed and gigs all over the UK. And they kept on coming with another series of NHS Lanarkshire roleplays this month! We attended the excellent State

Of Mind live Q&A with Shaun Ryder, hosted by Paul John Dykes this month at BAAD in Glasgow, followed by the premiere of the short film THE SAVAGES, directed by Luke Aherne, at the lovely Blytheswood Hotel in front of an invited audience. Great fun and lovely to catch up with lots of pals

afterwards and to take part in another Q&A post screening. I play the malicious millionaire Christian in this comedy drama which went down well and is available to watch here: The Savages short film and am pictured below at the event with my co-stars Jemima Spence and Gilchrist Muir. This was a fun shoot 

and am delighted with the results and to have worked with Jemima and Luke on yet another film. They have set up a fab production company, named Hot Dam Dram Llama and I look forward to working with them again in future! Then a return to the football field and a terrible 0-7 defeat for the Scotland Writers

against a strong Piraten FC team at a sunny Toryglen in Glasgow. Only my second game of the season and just great to be back playing again. We have a series of fixtures next year and a few internationals booked in so am very much looking forward to it! Great fun once again despite the horrendous result.

In other news, REMNANTS has won yet more awards at the North West Horror Film Festival, where I also picked up the Best Actor Award! Honoured and delighted to receive this as and we won BEST FILM as well. The film will continue it's journey around international festivals in 2023.

REMNANTS will also now be hosted on the Shortly.com website, so please check it out. We are thrilled by the reaction of audiences so far, having already played in America and Europe and will be screened in it's 'home town' of Sheffield next month. And finally, just in time for Christmas, THE CELTIC JERSEY,

written by Paul John Dykes was released at the end of the month and available now. I get a nice wee mention in this wonderful book, which has taken 7 years to put together and is beautifully produced and researched. November was a good month, and have now some more work booked in for the start of

2023 with a return to Birmingham for another live roleplay gig. Other projects are moving to completion and hopefully will also join my other short films 1815, Remnants and Rats on the festival circuit. And huge congratulations to both CRIME and GUILT who both won a slew of BAFTA Scotland Awards! Delighted to have been in both of them and for the brilliant cast and crew and creatives behind both.