Irvine Welsh puts in double shift on publicity round

EDINBURGH festival time and the quest for publicity is in full swing. Smart operators like Irvine Welsh know it’s best to plug early and often, even if it means a Sunday morning shift. 

Sunday Brunch was a mix of celebrity chat, cooking, and anything else the producers could throw in the pot to fill three hours of live television, including a competition to guess the age of expired food. 

This was the “zoo” format revived, with too many guests talking at once and the crew supplying chortles off. When not gabbing, the celebs stuffed their faces with whatever came out of the kitchen. Not an appetising sight at 10am.

Welsh was there to flog his new book, Men in Love, and accompanying album. All was well until he referred in less than flattering terms to the vocal styles of some singers today.  It was enough that the presenter, Tim Lovejoy, felt he had to apologise.

Contrast this with Katie Razzall’s Irvine Welsh: The Next Chapter, which has been aired on the BBC News channel and has its network debut on Monday. 

This was an old-school, pre-recorded sit-down, largely consisting of Razzall lining up a subject and allowing Welsh to talk at length. It didn’t always work. 

On Scottish independence, for instance, Razzall asked if he thought “the steam had gone out of the fight”. 


• Lorraine is the talk of the Steamie so I spent a week watching daytime TV

• The world-class Ayrshire hotel that moved BBC presenter to tears

• Karen Pirie: Call the fashion police, Scotland's worst dressed detective is back

• Fake or Fortune: Nice work from Fiona Bruce, but is it worth £415k a year?

“The steam's gone out of every fight now,” said Welsh. “People are very despondent about the mainstream political institutions and their ability to change and adapt. Whether it's supporters of Scottish independence or supporters of anything, whether it's any kind of radical or revolutionary change or any kind of political change, people are just waiting for the system to fall apart rather than push it.”

What did he think about the current political landscape in Scotland, or the swell in support for Reform UK? Detailed follow-ups might have produced tighter, more interesting answers.  

The chat occasionally wandered, at one point ending up in Alan Partridge territory. After footage of Welsh sparring, Razzall asked if boxing was useful to his writing.

“Boxing keeps me thin,” he said.

“Does that make you a good writer? 

“Yeah, being thin does make you a good writer, because you have to be comfortable in a chair. If you're sitting down and you’re overweight, it must be quite uncomfortable.”

Was he being serious? It was hard to tell. 

Never mind, Razzall was on a roll. Should Trainspotting have won the Booker prize? 

“Emphatically no, it would have been the kiss of death. 
Because I would just have been another writer, another writer who won the Booker prize. Because I became the anti-Booker prize writer, I was pushed into a different category, and it gave me a radical, anti-establishment cachet that I maybe didn't deserve even, but I'll take it anyway.”

Did he still feel anti-establishment? Sir Irvine Welsh, if they came offering?

“I’ve no interest in that kind of thing. They've got nothing I want,” he said.

Good publicity, though. 

Irvine Welsh: The Next Chapter, BBC2, 7pm tonight