Tom Urie is smiling contentedly in a quiet room at BBC HQ, surprising perhaps for a man who's about lose his job.

You'd expect the River City star actor, who has played the role of Big Bob for the past five years, to be producing the floods of tears his screen character shed when dumped by Polish lover, Tattie.

You'd certainly expect, at the very least, the hangdog expression lonely Bob O'Hara revealed when caught kerb crawling by Sheildinch's finest.

But not a bit of it. The 45-year-old is laid back about the dramatic shift in fortune.

"River City is six months work a year," he explains of the show's contract commitments.

"So it's only half of the year's guaranteed work that I'm giving up. But to be honest, my feelings right now on leaving are a mixture of terror, impending destitution, poverty - and excitement.

"And it's not as if you can ever relax into a job such as River City. There's a little bit of security goes with it, and you feel very lucky because most of your actor pals are unemployed.

"But at the same time every actor is a scared person. And you're always waiting to find out if your character gets murdered."

Tom has a healthy perspective on being dropped from the show; viewers will learn his character has 'a health scare'.

"Well, I went in for two episodes which lasted five years. And the public reaction to some of my storylines was fantastic.

"With the prostitute story, wee grannies were so sympathetic. And one day I was in Asda when two cops huckled me. I was taken aback and said 'What have I done?' And they smiled and said 'We've heard you've been kerb- crawling, sir."

Yet, Tom has had to deal with stories which parallel issues in his own life. He lives alone in his Glasgow flat with two cats. And he does, of course, have serious weight issues. Unlike Bob however, Tom can't see a solution.

"It's because my weight problems are linked to depression," he reveals. "It's an up and down battle. It was quite painful playing that storyline in the show because I've been through a lot of counselling in real life.

"But what I've learned is that my addictions, to alcohol and smoking, are linked to my mental health.

"And it's not easy to sort that out. Plus, because of the year I've had, losing my mother and all, I'm not in a position to diet at the moment."

Tom adds, his face now serious; "When you have an addictive personality it's so easy to feel safe when using whatever substance, whether alcohol or nicotine."

The actor will, however, miss his River City 'family'. In particular his screen mother, Una McLean.

"She's almost like a real mother. She'll phone me at the weekends to ask if I've eaten my vegetables. I have to say to her at times, 'Look, you're not my real mother.' But when my real mother died Una was great. She became a huge maternal figure.

"I really needed someone to cuddle me at the time - and tell me everything would be OK."

Tom accepts that recurring drama can become less than challenging; producers have to 'freshen it up.'

"There was a period there when Bob did nothing but work in a shop," he says, laughing. "I felt I was going to work every day to work in a shop selling tins of beans.

"And Bob has had so many stunning girlfriends. You have to reign in the possibilities, to keep it believable."

It's time for Bob O' Hara to take a sabbatical. But what will Tom do? He reveals he's excited about returning to his first love, writing and performing music.

Recently, he created the Bollywood song which climaxed the Still Game live show at the Hydro.

"I cried when I saw it performed on stage," he admits, with pride.

"We're thinking of putting it out as a single. We're looking to the Christmas market."

He wrote The Maw Broon Monologues, a musical, a couple of years back and Sweet Home Balmaha, a hit play for Oran Mor, which got him a publishing deal.

Tom's also working on a new musical based on his own experiences playing the piano bar circuit.

"The punters make it all so colourful," he says, grinning. "Some the requests, for example are unbelievable.

"They'll come up and say 'Excuse me, mate. Do you know any Helen Mirren?' And you reply, 'Helen Mirren, the Oscar winning actress?' They'll say, 'Aye, her. Do you know any?' And the number of times I've had punters say 'Play us Cilla Black's You're My world.' When I say I don't know it they grab my hands, shove them on the keyboard and say 'Jist play it!'"

Tom adds, "It's a joy and a nightmare at the same time."

He'll call his stage show Piano Man. Just to be perverse. "It's because I hate the Billy Joel song," he says. "I've been asked to play it so many times it's become Chinese water torture."

And after Piano Man is a stage success, he'll become Big Bob again?

"I hope so," he says. "He's been a joy. But for the moment, I'll be getting on with life."

n River City, BBC1, Tuedays, 8pm