Paul Riley was just in his 20s when he started playing grumpy old man Winston, whose character lost a leg as a result of heavy smoking.
This year Paul, a double Bafta award-winning actor and comedian, turns 53 and is touring the country with his own new show Auld Before My Time – An Evening with Paul Riley, visiting Glasgow next month.
The show is Paul’s opportunity to share with fans interesting tales and funny anecdotes from his 30 year-long career, reports the Daily Record.
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He said: “When I started playing Winston I was just a young man. Now I might be much closer in age to him but I don’t feel any different. In my head I still feel like I’m 12.”
Paul said wherever he goes he regularly gets stopped by fans of the show. He never fails to be amazed by how much they know about Winston and his own career as an actor.
He said: “Long before Still Game, and not long after I left the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, I got my first jobs on the telly – in both Taggart and Take the High Road. In Taggart my character didn’t even have a name. I came up in the credits as ‘Student in the garage’.
“The story had Blythe Duff and James McPherson coming into the garage looking for some wrong-un who’s under a car. They come in and say ‘Where’s so and so?’ and all I had to say pretty much was ‘Who wants to know?’
“For that, I was in the credits and to this day I still get occasional cheques from places like Poland, usually for something like 48p. My other early telly job was as a photographer in Take the High Road, but I nearly lost the job as soon as I got it because I couldn’t do what was asked.
“For my scene I was told ‘We want you to drive the car’ – but I had to tell them I couldn’t drive. They said ‘OK. We’ll park the car up and you can come out and light a cigarette’ – but I had to tell them I didn’t smoke.
“In the end they just got me to get out the car and play with my camera. I was only in High Road and Taggart for about two seconds each but I’ll often get messages on social media from folk who have just watched the episodes and spotted me.” Paul wasn’t the only member of the Still Game crew to have a role in Bill Forsyth’s 1994 film, Being Human, which starred Robin Williams.
He said: “Myself and Gavin Mitchell were both in that film – so a future Winston and a future Boaby the Barman with Robin Williams, all filming on a beach in Lochinver. Robin was just the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet. Because he had been working with 15 Scottish people, the next movie he shot was Mrs Doubtfire and that’s why she has a Scottish accent.”
Paul finds a lot of fun in some of the conversations and requests he gets from fans. He said: “I was at an event last year where a guy came up and thumped his prosthetic leg on to the table and asked me to sign it. He told me I had the prosthetic leg limp down perfectly as Winston.
“Two hours later a five-year-old wee boy dressed fully as spiderman came up to me and said ‘Shut it Tadger’ – Winston’s catchphrase – and then he just walked away. That’s the randomness of the things I encounter.
"I know of one guy who is coming from America to see my new show because he’s found Still Game on Netflix and he’s absolutely obsessed with it. Hearing things like that is crazy, but great.”
Paul's show will take place at Oran Mor on March 29th and 30th. For tickets and more information, click here.
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