AFTER nine years of playing hide-and-go-seek with the Scottish viewing public, Jack and Victor are soon to be back in full view.

Still Game will be back on the screens later this year, with a new six-part series set to commence filming in Dumbarton.

The new series will be broadcast across the UK. And writer/performers Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill couldn’t be more delighted.

Glasgow Times:

Ford said: “We’ve written five episodes already and we’re just finishing the sixth.

“And it was relatively easy to do. It’s been a long time since the last series but doing the Hydro gigs got us back into the world.

“We knew what we were doing with the characters.”

Poll: Who is your favourite Still Game character?

Greg agrees: “Still Game first came about (in theatre form) twenty years ago, so we know these people implicitly.

“We like to think we know what works and what doesn’t in terms of what an audience look for. And the storylines will still be relatively timeless.

“But we’ve certainly had great fun pulling it all together.”

The actor adds, laughing:  “The only difference is now we won’t have to go into make-up to play the characters. And the stoop is for real.”

Glasgow Times:

The Still Game cast at SSE Hydro stage show in 2013. Photograph: Nick Ponty

Ford points out the new series will feature the old favourites, such as Gavin Mitchell’s Boaby the Barman, Paul Riley’s Winston, Mark Cox as Tam, Sanjeev Kohli’s Navid  and Jane McCarry as Isa.

But there will be new characters arriving in Craiglang.

“More reprobates,” he says, laughing. “Just what the audience want.”

Still Game first broadcast in 2002. The theatre show featuring the evergreen pensioners was so successful it played for an incredible 21 nights to sell-out crowds.