Colin Gilbert, born 1954, is a Glasgow-born television producer and former senior creative director of The Comedy Unit. [1]
Gilbert began his career in comedy writing jokes for the radio shows Week Ending and The News Huddlines . He joined BBC Scotland as an Assistant Floor Manager in 1975 and continued writing comedy in his spare time. He was then asked to script edit the Rikki Fulton sketch show Scotch and Wry . This led to a move to London to script edit Not the Nine O'Clock News . On his return to BBC Scotland in 1983 he set up the Comedy Unit where he began working as a producer and director. His credits during this period include A Kick Up the Eighties with Tracey Ullman, Miriam Margolyes Roger Sloman, Ron Bain and Robbie Coltrane, Naked Radio , Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee with Robbie Coltrane and John Sessions, Naked Video with Gregor Fisher, Jonathan Watson, Helen Lederer, John Sparkes, Andy Gray, Tony Roper and Elaine C Smith, I Lovett with Norman Lovett, Kevin Turvey the Man Behind the Green Door which he co-wrote with Rik Mayall, City Lights with Gerard Kelly and Rab C Nesbitt with Gregor Fisher, created and written by Ian Pattison. Gilbert also worked with Fisher on The Baldy Man and The Tales of Para Handy .
In 1996 he left BBC Scotland to co-found The Comedy Unit as an independent production company with April Chamberlain who was at that time the business manager of the BBC Unit. Credits during this period include Rab C Nesbitt , The Karen Dunbar Show , Chewin' the Fat with Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill and then Still Game .
In 2006 the Comedy Unit was sold to RDF Media Group and Gilbert's most recent credits have been Empty with Gregor Fisher and Billy Boyd, the revival of Rab C Nesbitt after a 10-year gap and exec producing on Gary Tank Commander written by and starring Greg McHugh.
In November 2011 soon after producing and directing the 10th series of Rab C Nesbitt, Gilbert left the Comedy Unit after nearly 30 years as its senior creative. In 2013 he returned to direct "Hoodie" a one off Rab C special.
Colin Gilbert is the son of Jimmy Gilbert, a former BBC Head of Comedy whose production credits include The Frost Report , Last of the Summer Wine and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads . As a commissioner he was responsible for Porridge , Fawlty Towers and The Good Life .
Colin is married to Joanna a former make-up artist and they have two children, Nicola and Alistair.
On 24 October 1992, Gilbert received The Royal Television Society's Reith Award for outstanding contribution to television in Scotland. [2]
The Baldy Man is a television series starring Gregor Fisher, a Scottish comedian. It was broadcast in two series totalling thirteen episodes on ITV, screening in 1995 and 1998, and produced for Carlton Television by Working Title Films. Both series were also broadcast in full on Russian channel TB6 Moscow.
Gregor Fisher is a Scottish comedian and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the comedy series Rab C. Nesbitt, a role he has played since the show's first episode in 1988. He has also had roles in films such as Without a Clue (1988), Love Actually (2003), The Merchant of Venice (2004) and Whisky Galore! (2016).
Rab C. Nesbitt is a Scottish comedy series which began in 1988. Produced by BBC Scotland, it stars Gregor Fisher as an alcoholic Glaswegian who seeks unemployment as a lifestyle choice. Rab C. Nesbitt was originally a recurring character in the BBC2 sketch series Naked Video (1986–1990).
Naked Video is a BBC Scotland sketch show that was aired on BBC2 from 12 May 1986 to 18 November 1991. The show was created by Colin Gilbert who had previously created A Kick Up the Eighties and Naked Radio. The series originally starred Ron Bain, Gregor Fisher, Andy Gray, Elaine C. Smith, Tony Roper, Helen Lederer and Jonathan Watson, but they were later joined by Kate Donnelly and Louise Beattie. The series' producer was Colin Gilbert and its script editor was Philip Differ.
Elaine Constance Smith is a Scottish actress, comedian, and political activist. She rose to prominence from appearing in the BBC Scotland sitcoms City Lights (1984–1991) and Rab C. Nesbitt (1988–2014). Smith has played the role of Christine O'Neil in the BBC Scotland sitcom Two Doors Down (2013–present).
Jonathan Watson is a Scottish actor best known for his comedy sketch show Only an Excuse?, which parodied people and events from the world of Scottish football, as well as roles in the BBC comedies Bob Servant Independent in which he appears with Brian Cox, and as Colin in the acclaimed Two Doors Down (2013–present). In the 1980s he was also a regular cast member of the Scottish sitcom City Lights and the sketch show Naked Video.
The Tales of Para Handy is a Scottish television series set in the western isles of Scotland in the 1930s, based on the Para Handy books by Neil Munro. It starred Gregor Fisher as Captain Peter "Para Handy" MacFarlane, Sean Scanlan as first mate Dougie Cameron, Rikki Fulton as engineer Dan Macphail and Andrew Fairlie as Sunny Jim. These four made up the crew of the puffer Vital Spark which was employed by the Campbell Shipping Company, headquartered in Glasgow and run by Andrew Campbell, Para Handy's brother-in-law and owner of the Vital Spark.
John Gerard Beattie MBE was a Scottish actor and stand-up comedian whose career spanned over six decades. He appeared on shows including the sketch show Scotch & Wry and the sitcom Rab C. Nesbitt, and later appeared in more dramatic roles including Malcolm Hamilton in the soap opera River City.
Scotch and Wry is a Scottish television comedy sketch show produced by BBC Scotland and starring Rikki Fulton and a revolving ensemble cast which over the years included Gregor Fisher, Tony Roper, Claire Nielson, Juliet Cadzow and John Bett.
Tony Roper is a Scottish actor, comedian, playwright and writer.
Snoddy was a six-part Scottish television sitcom, written and created by Johnny Crawford, that first broadcast on BBC One Scotland on 13 March 2002. The series, which aired at 10:35pm on Wednesdays, starred Gregor Fisher of Rab C Nesbitt fame as DCI Samuel J. Snoddy, the head of Scotland's Elite Crime Squad, who is obsessed with spending more time playing golf abroad rather than fighting crimes.
Peter McDougall is a Scottish television playwright whose major success was in the 1970s.
A Kick Up the Eighties was a 1981–1984 BBC 2 comedy sketch show starring Robbie Coltrane, Tracey Ullman, Richard Stilgoe, Miriam Margolyes, Rik Mayall, Ron Bain and Roger Sloman.
Ron Bain is a Scottish television actor, director, producer, comedian and former stage actor who now focuses primarily on directing. He is known for his work with comedian Rikki Fulton, with whom he first worked while performing Molière's The Miser at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1971 and for his productions spotlighting Fulton's character 'the Reverend I. M. Jolly'.
Steven McNicoll is a Scottish actor, director, playwright and television presenter.
Barbara Rafferty, is a Scottish actress. Credited as Barbara Ann Brown in her early acting career. She is known for her roles as Ella Cotter in the long-running BBC Two sitcom Rab C Nesbitt, then firstly as Shirley Henderson and currently as Bernie O'Hara in BBC Scotland soap opera River City. Also as Agnes Meldon in mystery series Hamish MacBeth and as Grandma Mainland in the CBeebies comedy Katie Morag.
Anthony Robert McMillan, known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor and comedian. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series. He was appointed an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. In 1990, Coltrane received the Evening Standard British Film Award – Peter Sellers Award for Comedy. In 2011, he was honoured for his "outstanding contribution" to film at the British Academy Scotland Awards.
Iain McColl was a Scottish film and television actor, best known for his roles on British television series. McColl starred on City Lights, a BBC Scotland sitcom, from 1984 to 1991. He then co-starred on the BBC Two sitcom, Rab C Nesbitt during its first run (1988-1999). He rejoined the cast of Rab C Nesbitt again when the show was revived in 2008. Additionally, he appeared in guest spots on numerous other television shows, including Hamish Macbeth, Still Game and Taggart. McColl was also cast in a small role in the 2002 American film, Gangs of New York, directed by Martin Scorsese.
James Allenby-Kirk or simply James Kirk is a Scottish actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his roles as Jeff the Chef in the comedy Gary: Tank Commander and as Stosh in the drama series 24: Live Another Day.