Review of Still Game: Series 4

Introduction

Jack (Ford Kiernan) and Victor (Greg Hemphill) are two old codgers living in the fictional Craiglang area of Glasgow. Dodging busybody and gossiper extraordinaire neighbour Isa (Jane McCarry), the two saunter down to the local pub The Clansman to trade banter with barman Bobby (Gavin Mitchell) and try to convince tight-fisted Tam (Mark Cox) to buy a pint. Pal Winston (Paul Riley), local shopkeeper Navid (Sanjeev Kohli) and his never-to-be-seen wife Meena make up the ensemble.

Kill Wullie - There`s a new glamorous lassie at the local café and all the lads go down to try their luck. Sadly (for them) old Wullie gets in there first but does she want him just for the sex?

Wireless - Tight-fisted Tam manages to wangle a time share holiday and persuades Victor and Jack to fill in for him as hospital DJ.

Dial A Bus - Jack and Victor save themselves a walk to The Clansman by scrounging a lift on the Dial-A-Bus service driven by Davie (Robbie Coltrane). Little do they know that Davie is on the edge of an emotional abyss and they may well soon be on a Magical Mystery Tour and a high speed diesel chase.

Ring - Tam does the decent thing and asks his girlfriend to marry him. True to form though, he ends up cutting corners and the reception ends up in The Clansman for pie and mash at £1 a head.

Hatch - Jack and Victor are fed up with Isa`s prying and with the addition of Sky, the duo decide to install a secret hatch. Unfortunately it ends up slightly bigger than they expected, and inadvertently causes shockwaves across Craiglang.

Who`s The Daddy - Jack, Victor and Winston stage a protest when they hear a developer is going to pull down The Clansman. Then panic sets in as it becomes clear that one of them may be his father.

Video

Clear picture, mostly studio/set work. Some location work, but not too much.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track that is clear, well almost considering the Scottish dialect. Luckily it comes with subtitles and a laughter track so you can work out where to laugh if you don`t understand the language…

Features

Behind The Scenes - nice little featurette showing the cast and crew at work. Some of the cast need a script in real life too if they want to be funny. Haha, only kidding Navid…

Conclusion

Scottish comedy isn`t big across England, Rab C.Nesbitt the last that I can remember that made the transition from border TV to national TV. Still Game made it onto BBC2 for this series, although it wasn`t something that was hyped despite its popularity North of the Border. So is it funny? Is Taggart dour?

This is an excellent little series and funnier than any recent sitcom I`ve seen on TV (multi-scripted US efforts excused, of course). So why for a BBC Scotland show does this not have a more mainstream audience across the rest of these fair Isles? I can only think that it`s the language. It is a bit choice, but that`s how it is in Scotland and oddly enough it`s also how it is across most of England as well. Shame that there would be uproar in some of the media over this aspect, but I don`t think anyone is bothered in Scotland…

As an example, here`s a sample exchange between Bobby the barman, Jack and Victor:

Bobby the barman: [Jack and Victor enter the Clansman] Ho-ho, it`s the two Ronnies.
Victor: The two Ronnies is it, aye? Well, then, it`s shut-up-ya-prick frae me...
Jack: And its shut-up-ya-prick frae him.

It works really well and discussing this with a Scottish friend over the phone, he couldn`t stop laughing describing episodes I haven`t seen. All I can say is that we English are missing out on some quality comedy because we can`t handle a bit of blue language on TV, although we don`t bat an eyelid when it appears in films.

The ensemble cast is superb, the two leads excellent. Best joke of all though is Asian shopkeeper Navid. He literally steals every scene he is in and is possibly the best thing about this programme. Not sure he would work outside this setting though, so no thoughts of a spin-off, eh?

Still game? I am, and I`m off tae watch it a`again…