He said: “It’s not sunk in if I’m honest. We finished a few weeks ago and then I got the lurgy.”
I met the lovely Gav at the 35th anniversary celebrations for STV’s famed detective series Taggart.
Seamore Neighbourhood Cinema had taken over Maryhill Community Central Hall for the occasion and Gav was in esteemed company alongside show creators - writer Glenn Chandler and producer Robert Love.
Gav told me: “I actually appeared three times, in three roles on the show, as a barman of course and then a pathologist Robin Carlisle Forbes who was actually kind of posh, and then as a gangster kind of businessman which was a brilliant storyline.
He added jokingly: “He was nice but a bit like me, so er, don’t cross me or I’ll break your nose with a pool cue.”
As we sat watching the first ever episode of Taggart - then a three part mini series called Killer in 1983 - it struck me just how brilliant it was - and how timeless the writing still is. Only the dodgy patterned wallpaper was a bit out of date.
Gav said: “Robert and Glenn both created Taggart, so to be with the creators thirty five years on in Maryhill in the community Central halls is phenomenal. To be in Jim Taggarts stomping ground, in his hood with his creators is refined company indeeed. It’s a bit like being with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger and I’m the Ronnie Wood of the company. I’ll always be the newbie.”
