Still Game

I know a lot of people were campaigning for this spin-off from Scottish hit Chewin' the Fat to be networked (both north and south of the border). Well, the BBC's announced today it will be. See:

See http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5028304.html

Suspect a late night BBC2 slot, much like with the repeats of Chewin' the Fat, is what they'll do with it.

It was shown on BBC 2 last spring, just after Grass. IMHO it was also awful, the first series of Chewin' the Fat, that was networked was great but since then the output of BBC Scotland's comedy department has been awful.

Have to admit I always thought it would struggle to achieve a mainstream audience outwith Scotland. A lot of it is hilarious if you live up here, but I can see why it might fail to translate.

(And before anyone says anything about no-one having a problem with Rab C Nesbitt, I've always seen that as a production which was made to give people in England a chance to laugh at the Scots - BBC Scotland's lowest hour in my opinion. And it was a bloody long hour).

However I know it has fans down there, and I reckon if it was put on at the right timeslot on BBC2 it could achieve a cult following. And from there - well you never know?

I wonder if the sucessful BBC Wales drama Belonging will make it onto a network platform?

Possibly because they don't have one? Most of their comedy stuff comes from The Comedy Unit, an indie based not far away from BH in Glasgow.

Fair enough, let me rephrase. Since the first series of Chewin' the Fat was networked in 2001 the output of The Comedy Unit had been awful.

It's the same when Give my Head Peace, the highly successful BBC NI comedy went network, ended up I think at about 8pm on a Saturday on BBC2 and what I heard it didn't go down too well.

When you take a local comedy show and try to network it, people probably won't get the jokes, like how people won't understand the likes of Uncle Andy and the relevance of "Divis Tower" to the storyline.

I know a guy who's in England, who didn't understand any of it and since he moved here with work, he absolutely hates the show.

Phrase it anyway you like Mich, you are plain wrong sunshine.

Between the excellent Still Game, Karen Dunbar and to a lesser extent my ol' mate Craig Hill, there has been some brilliant work coming out of Scotland.

And let's not have this "lost in translation" argument please. If I can understand all these English accents, the I expect most English can understand Scottish ones.

I think you'll find I am correct; I know my own mind, and my own opinion! From what i've seen, the majority of the output, from and English point of view has been awful. Many of the sayings and accents are difficult to understand. I'm sure on Scotland it is hilarious, but there is little point networking it, if no-one can understand it.

I shouldn't think your jingoistic reluctance to broaden your 'ear' should stand in the way of good comedy getting a wider audience.

Do you think every reference is to haggis and neeps?

The comedy does not come from in-jokes and purely Scottish references, just as Only Fools and Horses doesn't solely refer to living in London, or the Liver Birds being all about Liverpool.

Very poor, Mich.

Incidentally Still Game is HUGE in Canada, and Taggart's largest fan club is based in Kazakhstan.

So perhaps the problem with understanding the Scottish accent is localised in your head Mich?

I'm quite alright thank you very much. I can understand the Scottish accent at times perfectly well, hence my praise of a previous series of Chewin' the Fat, but, IMHO Still Game was poor, thicker accent, poorer jokes and fewer jokes with a wider scope.
I heard somewhere that the BBC were considering adding subtitles for the network showing! Surely indication that Still Game is seen as more difficult than most to understand.

I'm still not sure what the fuss about Still Game is; it was networked earlier in the year and didn't receive an awful lot of press, either positive or negative.