Boabby's big break

Still Game star reveals how childhood TV time and a theatre dare led to iconic barman role

- MICHAEL PRINGLE

Still Game star Gavin Mitchell has revealed how being plunked in front of the telly as a child helped plant a seed for his acting career

Originally from the “lovely fishing village of Springburn” in the north of Glasgow, the 60-year-old is best known for his role as the acerbic Boabby the Barman in the sitcom’s fictional Craiglang. His family moved around a lot when he was growing up and he spent a large part of his childhood in North Lanarkshire.

Gavin’s dad was a film projectionist in Coatbridge and the family had a spell living there as well as stints in Airdrie and Glenboig. He attended St Barbara’s Primary, and Our Lady and St Joseph’s Primary in Glenboig, before moving up to St Patrick's High in Coatbridge.

“I was all over the place,” he admits. I didn't really have a lot of pals and was sort of plunked in front of the telly.

“I'm not formally trained [in acting] but I think partly through the moving about, it became a defence mechanism — I used to make people laugh a lot at school by doing impersonations.”

Gavin's first love was art and it was while working casual at a famous Glasgow theatre that the opportunity arose to take to the stage for the first time.