UNSUSPECTING residents of various districts of Glasgow can rest assured if they suddenly come face to face later this month with an odd assembly of well-kent small-screen comedy characters. Folk in Govan, Hillhead, Canniesburn, and Yoker needn't fear that they've been accidentally warped backwards through time into a bizarre hybrid episode of Are You Being Served?, On The Buses, It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, or Coronation Street.
Nor will they have stumbled into some new free-range Celebrity Big Brother-style exercise in reality TV, one which pairs the erstwhile landlord of the Rover's Return, Alex Gilroy, with Blakey, the baleful bus inspector, or unites Mr Rumbold, the officious department store head, with his old nemesis, Mrs Slocombe - and I can stress, incidentally, that the latter will most definitely not be startling Glasgow with her infamous purple-dyed pussy.
What will actually be going on at a range of Glasgow locations is the filming of a new six-part BBC Choice sketch series, Revolver, a show which aims to employ the best of both worlds: British old school acting talent and cutting-edge contemporary comedy writers. From his BBC Scotland base in Queen Margaret Drive, Revolver's producer, Gary Chippington, has assembled a cast which reads like a Who's Who of cult TV comedy performers.
There's Melvyn Hayes, first seen over 30 years ago free-wheeling across Europe on a double-decker bus with Cliff Richard in Summer Holiday. More recently, Hayes was the cross-dressing bombardier who enraged Windsor Davies every week across the Indian sub-continent in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum.
Before he spent time dispensing pints of Newton and Ridley's best bitter alongside Bet Lynch, Roy Barraclough was Les Dawson's principal foil. As well as having been dismayed by Mollie Sugden's anarchic retail practices at Grace Brothers department store, Nicholas Smith cropped up in a variety of toffee-nosed roles in shows like The Avengers.
Those two staples of On The Buses, Stephen ''Blakey'' Lewis and Anna Karen, are officially expected to hop aboard Revolver soon, while another cast member, twinkle-toed smoothie Lionel Blair, has always shone in the role he's made his own - that of twinkle-toed smoothie Lionel Blair. More recently, Frank Kelly cried ''Feck!'' to enjoyably appalling effect as Father Jack on Father Ted.
Revolver's younger off-screen crew includes current stand-ups Marcus Brigstocke and Alan Miller, jointly acting as script editors. The show's fresh-facd roster of writers is led by the emergent Glaswegian partnership of Connell and Florence, whose glittering CV includes Chewin' The Fat and the new satirical radio hit, Watson's Wind-Up. Says Chippington: ''All the actors have become TV icons for work that they did 20 or even 30 years ago. They're all very familiar faces today because they're still seen virtually every week in endless repeats on satellite or digital TV.
''We were thus excited by the idea of training their obvious comedy class and pedigree on something newer. There's also the fact that retro TV has become very popular - and yet most of it is lazily made: simply replay an old show, or screen an old clip, and then have someone talk about it.
''In addition, whenever current sketch show writers create older characters, they're inevitably played by young actors wearing obvious wigs. It looks wrong, and the truth of the role is lost. But if you give the role to someone of the correct age, there's a greater depth - and more laughs.''
Chippington hasn't experienced any downside to the generation gap, either. ''Generally speaking, the cast have got most enjoyment from the more surreal material - the blacker, slightly sicker, more modern and challenging stuff.
''It's going to be a very enjoyable and exciting time when the cast come up to Glasgow next week. They're all consummate pros who undoubtedly know their stuff better than we do as a production team. They've already had everything thrown at them a hundred times.''
Chippington's vintage cast will also be assisted in Revolver by the new bugs who star in his most recently-completed series, Velvet Soup, due to make its full BBC2 debut later during the summer. ''They're all desperate to meet their more mature and illustrious thespian peers - can you imagine the anecdotes the young 'uns will be dazzled with?''
Chippington has already experienced for himself the wondrous effect of meeting the living
legends of small-screen comedy. ''I met Melvyn, Roy, and Nicholas for lunch in the heart of the British media industry, Soho. When we came out, I felt as if I was strolling down the street on the arm of a supermodel.
''The trio turned the heads of every trendy young urbanite by-passer. Nobody gave a second glance to Craig David on the other side of the road - but Mr Rumbold was stopping the traffic.''
There are more practical benefits, too.
''I went down to meet Roy at his home in Manchester, naturally taking a script with me. I've worked on Velvet Soup since it started life on Radio Scotland three years ago as Velvet Cabaret, so I've become used to the ways of top-class comedy performers - but Roy merely gave the script a 30-second glance before delivering it with every intonation perfectly in place straight off, right on the money.
''It's going to be an honour and a privilege to work with all our established actors.''
And a hoot, too, I'm sure.
l Revolver will be broadcast on the BBC's digital channel, Choice, in the autumn.
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