Still Game is a Scottish comedy set in the fictional town of Craiglang and is about two Glaswegian widowed pensioners called Victor McDade (Greg Hemphill) and Jack Jarvis (Ford Kiernan). Being Glaswegian myself and living not too far from where Still Game is mainly filmed I can safely say that Craiglang is not real. The Mary-Hill area of Glasgow is the area of which most of Still Game was filmed.
Still Game is just pure comedy in my opinion, some people may agree with me and others might not. I think I find the whole series as funny because I'm Glaswegian and most of the patter and jokes Jack, Victor and their friend's belt out, I hear regularly on a daily basis. I would say Still Game is the Scottish equivalent of Shameless, except Still Game doesn't have any sex scenes like Shameless and is a lot funnier.
All of the main characters in Still Game are pensioners but they are played by much younger actors and actresses, but the use of make up and special effects makes them look older than they are, therefore makes the part they are playing more believable.
Main Characters
Victor
McDade (Greg Hemphill) and Jack Jarvis (Ford Kiernan) The pair have been friends since they were wee boys and their friendship has been going strong for over 60 years. They live next door to one another in Osprey Heights, Craiglang, and have been widows for over 10 years since their wives died. Jack has a daughter called Fiona whom he doesn't see very much of because she lives in Canada with her husband and her two boys. Victor has a son whom lives in Johannesburg with his family too and he doesn't see or hear much from him either apart from an add phone call now and again.
Tam Mullen (Mark Cox) Tam is a friend of Jack and Victors and is a bit of a Scrooge, as he doesn't like to part with any money and is always trying to fob the Craiglang residents off with a sob story so as they will buy him a pint.
Winston Ingram (Paul Riley) Winston is always lurking about the Bookies or in the Clansman pub. He has a 60 a day cigarette habit and a gambling habit.
Navid Harrid (Sanjeev Kohli) Navid runs the local convenience store alongside his wife Meena. Navid is really funny and belts out loads of one liners to the customers who come into his shop.
Isa Drennan (Jane McCarry) Isa is the local gossip of Craiglang and knows everything about everyone and their granny. Isa is a cleaner in Navids shop and also lives in the same floor in Osprey Heights as Jack and Victor. Isa is like Craiglangs version of Dot Cotton from Eastenders or Emmerdale's Viv Windsor.
Boaby The Barman (Gavin Mitchel) Boaby is the landlord of the Clansman pup where you will find most of the Craiglang residents lurking about. Boaby is always dishing out snide comments to all of his customers especially Jack and Victor, but he doesn't get away with it as the Craiglang residents always fires a snide comment back at him and knock him down a peg or two.
The Episodes
Series one of Still game comprises of six thirty minute episodes, which are all really funny and great to watch.01 ~ Flittin' As you can see from the title, this episode is all about moving house. Jack moves into a new house which is next door to Victor, in Osprey Heights. He gets some help from a few of the Craiglang residents so as he can move house really quickly so as he can escape the neighbours from hell.
02 ~ Faimly This episode is about family. Victor is waiting to see of his son is going to phone him about coming to Craiglang to visit him.
03 ~ Cauld This episode is about the really cold weather in Craiglang and the residents who can't afford to keep their heating on because they don't have enough money to pay for heating bills.
04 ~ Courtin' Jack fancies on of the women who works in a shop in Glasgow and Victor feels really left out.
05 ~ Waddin This episode is about a big wedding which is taking place in Craiglang and there are only a few invites left.
06 ~ Scones Jack and Victor feel really left out because Tam keeps wining things all the time, so the pair of them try to do something about it.
DVD Extras
I was really disappointed with the Still Game Series One DVD because there were no DVD extras. You only have the option to select an episode or to play all episodes. I thought that maybe there would have been deleted scenes or a behind the scenes extra on the DVD but there wasn't.
Price
I bought the Still Game Series One DVD from Woolworths and paid £11.99 for it. Although if you look on Play.com or EBay you might be able to pick up a cheaper copy for a fraction of the price. I think that the DVD was well worth the price I paid for it because you can watch it again and again without getting bored with it. I love Still Game and it is so funny, I highly recommend it to comedy fans, especially those who used to watch Rab C Nesbitt because it is fairly similar too it with all the Scottish slang phrases.
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
never heard of the programme before but will definitely look out for it now> Lovely review - thanks.
baalzamon 09.01.2008 15:55
Somehow I've only managed to catch the odd episode on TV, which is a shame as they're great. I've a Glaswegian buddy who loves it, so this is worth remembering for his birthday, assuming he doesn't already have them... John
Introducing loveable old codgers Jack (Ford Kiernan) and Victor (Greg Hemphill) in series ... more
one of Still Game, a sitcom about sex, violence and scones. Ready for adventure and always game for a laugh, this pair of Glasgow pensioners prove that growing ol...
Advantages: Fantastic comedy, well written, with brilliant and believable characters Disadvantages: New boxset with EVERY episode is available from November '08
![Still Game - Series 1 [DVD] [2002]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78485416.jpg "Still Game - Series 1 [DVD] [2002]")
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