Richard Wilson | 'Believe It' on BBC Radio 4 ep 1 'Drink' [press release] + Daily Record [article]
Believe it! Drink
Celebrity autobiographies are everywhere. Richard Wilson has always said he'd never write one.
Based on glimmers of truth, BELIEVE IT is the hilarious, bizarre, revealing (and, most importantly, untrue) celebrity radiography of Richard Wilson.
[click to read more]He narrates the series, weaving in and out of dramatised scenes from his fictional life-story. He plays a heavily exaggerated version of himself: a Scots actor and national treasure, unmarried, private, passionate about politics, theatre and Manchester United (all true), who's a confidant of the powerful and has survived childhood poverty, a drunken father, years of fruitless grind, too much success, monstrosity, addiction, charity work, secret work for governments and fierce rivalry with Sean Connery (not true). All the melodramatic staples of celebrity-autobiography are wonderfully undercut by Richard's deadpan delivery.
(The title - in case you hadn't spotted - is an unashamed reference to his famous catchphrase.)
Richard is supported by a small core cast viz:
David Tennant
John Sessions
Lewis Macleod
Arabella Weir
And Jane Slavin
Who play anyone and everyone!
Produced by: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
[sourcery | 'Believe It! Drink' will air next Wednesday, May 9 at 11:30am on BBC Radio 4]
Next Saturday, on May 5 at 06:15pm Richard and David Tennant will join moderator Clive Anderson on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends and talk about Believe It.
♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔
Daily Record: Victor Meldrew admits: "I broke into Greenock jail" [no Merlin spoilers]
[click to read]Victor Meldrew admits: "I broke into Greenock jail"
I DON’T believe it - the actor who played grumpy Victor Meldrew used to break into his local prison for kicks when he was a boy.
Scots actor Richard Wilson revealed he was a tearaway who loved playing endless games of football on the streets of his home town of Greenock.
And the 75-year-old One Foot in the Grave actor recalled how he and his pals would squeeze through the fencing of the local nick.
He said: “We used to break into the prison grounds. There was a big wall. We didn’t go over that but we did go through the fencing and it seemed rather daring.”
Richard - real name Ian Colquhoun Wilson - was born in Dunlop Street in 1936 and remembers the great ship launches well.
He added: “The great thing about Greenock was you had the great countryside. The views are spectacular. My father worked at Scott’s shipyard and I was always excited to watch the big launches.”
After completing National Service in Singapore in 1956, he worked as a research scientist in Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital labs before turning to acting aged 27.
Despite roles ranging from a surgeon in 80s sitcom Only When I Laugh to Gaius in the current BBC production of Merlin, Richard’s most famous role remains that of Meldrew.
Millions tuned in to see him play the grumpy pensioner alongside fellow Scot Annette Crosbie between 1990 and 2000.
But directing is his passion. He said: “New writing attracts me as an actor and director.”
Celebrity autobiographies are everywhere. Richard Wilson has always said he'd never write one.
Based on glimmers of truth, BELIEVE IT is the hilarious, bizarre, revealing (and, most importantly, untrue) celebrity radiography of Richard Wilson.
[click to read more]He narrates the series, weaving in and out of dramatised scenes from his fictional life-story. He plays a heavily exaggerated version of himself: a Scots actor and national treasure, unmarried, private, passionate about politics, theatre and Manchester United (all true), who's a confidant of the powerful and has survived childhood poverty, a drunken father, years of fruitless grind, too much success, monstrosity, addiction, charity work, secret work for governments and fierce rivalry with Sean Connery (not true). All the melodramatic staples of celebrity-autobiography are wonderfully undercut by Richard's deadpan delivery.
(The title - in case you hadn't spotted - is an unashamed reference to his famous catchphrase.)
Richard is supported by a small core cast viz:
David Tennant
John Sessions
Lewis Macleod
Arabella Weir
And Jane Slavin
Who play anyone and everyone!
Produced by: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
[sourcery | 'Believe It! Drink' will air next Wednesday, May 9 at 11:30am on BBC Radio 4]
Next Saturday, on May 5 at 06:15pm Richard and David Tennant will join moderator Clive Anderson on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends and talk about Believe It.
♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔
Daily Record: Victor Meldrew admits: "I broke into Greenock jail" [no Merlin spoilers]
[click to read]Victor Meldrew admits: "I broke into Greenock jail"
I DON’T believe it - the actor who played grumpy Victor Meldrew used to break into his local prison for kicks when he was a boy.
Scots actor Richard Wilson revealed he was a tearaway who loved playing endless games of football on the streets of his home town of Greenock.
And the 75-year-old One Foot in the Grave actor recalled how he and his pals would squeeze through the fencing of the local nick.
He said: “We used to break into the prison grounds. There was a big wall. We didn’t go over that but we did go through the fencing and it seemed rather daring.”
Richard - real name Ian Colquhoun Wilson - was born in Dunlop Street in 1936 and remembers the great ship launches well.
He added: “The great thing about Greenock was you had the great countryside. The views are spectacular. My father worked at Scott’s shipyard and I was always excited to watch the big launches.”
After completing National Service in Singapore in 1956, he worked as a research scientist in Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital labs before turning to acting aged 27.
Despite roles ranging from a surgeon in 80s sitcom Only When I Laugh to Gaius in the current BBC production of Merlin, Richard’s most famous role remains that of Meldrew.
Millions tuned in to see him play the grumpy pensioner alongside fellow Scot Annette Crosbie between 1990 and 2000.
But directing is his passion. He said: “New writing attracts me as an actor and director.”