0:00:02 > 0:00:07Gregor Fisher has been making millions laugh for over 40 years.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10- Argh! - LAUGHTER
0:00:12 > 0:00:13Tell you one thing.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15See Sunday mornings like these?
0:00:15 > 0:00:16Makes you feel great
0:00:16 > 0:00:19to be half alive, eh? LAUGHTER
0:00:19 > 0:00:23Star of the most successful Scottish sitcom on British TV,
0:00:23 > 0:00:29Gregor is best known as drunken philosopher Rab C Nesbitt.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33Rab is actually the polar opposite of Gregor
0:00:33 > 0:00:35and it's a wonderful acting performance
0:00:35 > 0:00:36that people believe.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39I'm not sitting here listening to the likes of that.
0:00:42 > 0:00:48Behind the laughs is a versatile actor of both stage and screen.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Now unburden yourself of your worries...
0:00:52 > 0:00:54..and be comforted.
0:00:54 > 0:00:55Bumble is here.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58I've never had my eye on comedy...
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Cannae park here, son. Double yellow line.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03..comedy's had its eye on me.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05I'm a little fat chap
0:01:05 > 0:01:07with a fairly mobile face.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12But I always thought that I was more of a boy for the tragedy myself.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15SEAT CLUNKS, CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Gregor has recently delved into his family's past,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22discovering tragedy, lies
0:01:22 > 0:01:25and a story as remarkable as any fiction.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29What Gregor has been through is...
0:01:29 > 0:01:32What he has survived and what he has made of his life
0:01:32 > 0:01:34is quite extraordinary.
0:01:35 > 0:01:42This programme contains some strong language.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Gregor Fisher is on a very personal journey
0:01:54 > 0:01:57to uncover long hidden family secrets.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01In order to make sense of his complicated past,
0:02:01 > 0:02:07he took what few clues he had to Times journalist Melanie Reid.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08There you are.
0:02:08 > 0:02:13My mother says that was her pride and joy. She loved that picture.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16- You were, what, five, six? - Yeah, something like that, yeah.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19- You do look very sweet.- Very sweet.
0:02:19 > 0:02:20I think I posed for it.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23I think I was a pain in the neck, actually, to be quite honest.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25I was probably slightly disturbed or something
0:02:25 > 0:02:27because I was a love child.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Um... HE LAUGHS
0:02:29 > 0:02:32- But at that stage, you didn't know you were a love child.- No, I didn't.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34- You didn't know anything. - I didn't know anything.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Before this little boy was four years old,
0:02:41 > 0:02:43he had had three different sets of parents.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48I knew that this story wasn't an easy one for him,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50that it would take a lot of digging,
0:02:50 > 0:02:54trying to find out stuff about people who were long gone,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57whose lives have been quiet, anonymous lives
0:02:57 > 0:02:59and these people don't leave many traces.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Gregor grew up on the outskirts of Glasgow
0:03:08 > 0:03:11in the small town of Neilston
0:03:11 > 0:03:14with his best friend, Johnny Monaghan.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16- Here we are.- Great stuff.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19- Back at Kirkhill Cottage. - I know. A new gate as well.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22- That wouldn't have been here. - No, I don't remember that.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Gregor's childhood home is still occupied by an elderly relative.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31This was the famous, wonderful...
0:03:31 > 0:03:33- I don't...- ..outdoor loo.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Do you remember? Did you ever avail yourself?
0:03:35 > 0:03:37- I think I had to on one occasion. - More than you'd want, Johnny.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44And...
0:03:44 > 0:03:46- I've got to point you this way. - Right.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Do you see there? You can't...
0:03:48 > 0:03:51- You can hardly see it for the tree. - Oh, I can see it.- But you see it?
0:03:51 > 0:03:54That was Glasgow. That tree wasn't there.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56- So, you'd have the whole thing. - And Glasgow was twinkling.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00- I thought, "Oh, this is it. Died and gone to heaven."- Yeah.
0:04:02 > 0:04:03- Let's go in.- Right.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08- Here you are. Do you remember that? - Good God.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11That's the dresser from the good room.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13That's the dresser from the good room.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15There's Wally dugs, as well. Do you remember the Wally dugs?
0:04:15 > 0:04:18The Wally dugs used to sit on either side of the mantelpiece
0:04:18 > 0:04:19in the good room.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21That's a concept that just...
0:04:21 > 0:04:23- There is no good room now, is there? - No, I don't...
0:04:23 > 0:04:25- People don't have a good room. - No, that's it.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27And the thing was that nobody ever used the good room.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30No, you weren't allowed to use it. I don't know what it was used for.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33- CLOCK TICKS Remember Sundays?- Yeah, yeah.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36- Oh, Sundays were interminable. - I know.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38- It's cos there was nothing open.- Tick.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40Tick. Tick, tick, tick. That's right.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42And then we used to come and play Ponnies through there.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44- Do you remember Pontoon? - Gambling.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46- Gambling.- Yes, I remember gambling.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Bible class, Sunday school, the church and then gambling.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52- Marvellous. - THEY LAUGH
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Gregor lived here with John and Cis Leckie,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02the woman he knew as his mother.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10She looked like somebody of my generation's grandmother.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12She wore a wraparound pinny and she'd be doing something,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14she'd be making something.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19She'd be contributing to the wellbeing of her family.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21That was her main concern in life.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27I tell you what she was - she was fun. She was great fun...
0:05:28 > 0:05:32..my mother. She was always up for a laugh.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35She was a mother.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37A mother with a capital M.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Gregor was 14 when his cosy world was turned upside down.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49A christening was on its way
0:05:49 > 0:05:51and as part of the chitchat about this and that,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53I said, "Where was I christened?"
0:05:54 > 0:05:56And there was a bit of a pause.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Um, so, I repeated the question.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03My mother started busying herself,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06asking if anybody would like any more tea or toast.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10But I thought, "Hello. Something's...
0:06:10 > 0:06:12"What's...? Something's not right here."
0:06:14 > 0:06:15Um...
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Anyway, with that thought in my head, I went to bed
0:06:19 > 0:06:20and I thought no more about it
0:06:20 > 0:06:22until there was a knock on my bedroom door,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24a thing that was unheard of in my house.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26You know, nobody knocked.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30And my mother came in
0:06:30 > 0:06:34and said that I had been adopted.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Um, and that...
0:06:40 > 0:06:41Something, you know...
0:06:41 > 0:06:44"Anyway, we look after you now."
0:06:45 > 0:06:49And patted me on the head...twice.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55I don't mean to paint a picture of a family that was unloving
0:06:55 > 0:06:58because they weren't.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02My mother was the most loving person I've ever met in my entire life.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08But physical displays of affection were not the thing in those days,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11so that was an extreme show of affection,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13the pat-pat of the hair.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15And that was the end of that.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17I wasn't actually part of her.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27Much to my shame, I wasn't very nice for some time after that.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29She'd give me my breakfast in the morning,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31cereal or something and I'd take the bowl and say,
0:07:31 > 0:07:32"I don't want this" and...
0:07:32 > 0:07:37You know, all that shit. Stupid arse idiot that I was.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44He'd been sort of vaguely aware
0:07:44 > 0:07:47that there were things in his vague memory
0:07:47 > 0:07:49that said he wasn't exactly who he...
0:07:49 > 0:07:51He couldn't possibly have been Cis's son
0:07:51 > 0:07:54because she was old enough to be his grandmother.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58He was distraught, but because she loved him dearly
0:07:58 > 0:08:02and he adored her, he didn't want to rock the boat.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06And, in fact, he just sort of stuck it away in his consciousness
0:08:06 > 0:08:08and didn't think about it anymore.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13SCHOOL BELL RINGS
0:08:14 > 0:08:17School life for Gregor was just as tricky.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24I knew for certain that school and academic life
0:08:24 > 0:08:27was not the thing for me, really.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30I got one O Level, by the way.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Art. Still life and embroidery.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37A drone's life loomed before me.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47He left school as soon as he could in 1969 at the age of 15.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52So, off to work I went...
0:08:53 > 0:08:56..in various jobs.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Making sticky tape that was exported all over the...
0:08:59 > 0:09:03It seemed all to go to Africa, that sticky tape. I don't know why.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06I didn't last very long there.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09I went to Shanks in Barrhead, made lavatories.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Didn't care for that either.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16Then I was a barman. Didn't last very long at that.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20I had a job cutting grass and that didn't last very long
0:09:20 > 0:09:22because I sat down on the job one day to have a fag
0:09:22 > 0:09:25and was sacked on the spot.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29So, I had to walk from Paisley to Neilston.
0:09:31 > 0:09:32The walk of shame.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38But there was one thing he could do well.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41He knew how to entertain people.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44At 18, he was old enough to apply for drama college.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49The hour approacheth that I did an audition
0:09:49 > 0:09:51at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54And, um...
0:09:55 > 0:09:57..they let me in.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Gregor's family life was not so straightforward.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Unsolved mysteries from his past were resurfacing.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18It wasn't, in fact, until he was 18 years old
0:10:18 > 0:10:21when he got a letter from a complete stranger saying,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24"You don't know me, but I'm your sister
0:10:24 > 0:10:26"and my name is Maureen."
0:10:27 > 0:10:29I went, "Oh? Really?"
0:10:31 > 0:10:33Very neat handwriting. I remember that.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36TRAIN STATION TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT
0:10:38 > 0:10:42After a brief exchange of letters, Gregor and Maureen arrange to meet.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51I remember being kitted out in cousin Billy's suit,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53his best Reid & Taylor suit
0:10:53 > 0:10:55and heading off to Glasgow Central Station.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Couldnae write this, actually.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05It sounds like a bad sitcom or something,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08but we met outside the lost property office.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11- Hello.- Hello.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13- Did you think I was never going to be coming?- I did.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16- I thought that.- You thought you were going to be stood up
0:11:16 > 0:11:19- outside the left luggage office. - The left luggage office.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29I didn't know her. She didn't know me.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33It was just...odd.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37You know, some people you see in the street, you think,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39"Things aren't going well for you."
0:11:39 > 0:11:40She had a kind of...
0:11:41 > 0:11:43..terrible, um...
0:11:44 > 0:11:45..vulnerability about her.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Somebody that had had a right good slapping.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51Life had not treated Maureen well.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Despite her troubled life,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58Maureen was determined to help rebuild the family she had lost.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01I wrote the letter because I thought
0:12:01 > 0:12:05it's time now I find out what happened to Gregor, I think.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08I knew about you,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10although you probably had very little memory of me.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14And I had seen you at family parties when we were younger and everything.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16And I think I probably...
0:12:16 > 0:12:17I did. I hit the age where I thought,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19"I'm going to do something about this now."
0:12:26 > 0:12:27Maureen was also old enough
0:12:27 > 0:12:31to remember their early childhood together.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Everybody used to say what a lovely wee boy you were
0:12:33 > 0:12:35- with your blonde curls.- Oh, right.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38And my hair was straight and I remember getting the...
0:12:38 > 0:12:42- It was pinking shears, you know, for cutting material.- Oh, right. OK.
0:12:42 > 0:12:43And I cut your curls off.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46- Oh, did you? - Cos everybody said you were lovely.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48And that really annoyed you.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50THEY LAUGH
0:12:50 > 0:12:53I must have been maybe four and you'd be...
0:12:53 > 0:12:55- Well, you were two and a half or something.- Right.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Gregor learned that he and Maureen
0:12:58 > 0:13:01had been brought up by Jim and Ellen Fisher.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06But tragedy had struck.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Ellen Fisher had fallen in a fire
0:13:12 > 0:13:16and her nightdress had gone up in flames and she had died.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21It was at that point that Jim Fisher's sister,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24who was Cis, had come in, whipped him away.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27And, of course, in those days, you know,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29social work didn't control that sort of thing.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31You know, "Oh, someone will look after him."
0:13:31 > 0:13:35And he was whipped away to be brought up unofficially by Cis.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40So, while Gregor was cared for by Cis,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44whom he knew as Mum, Maureen was not so lucky.
0:13:47 > 0:13:48Separated from her brother,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51she was looked after by other relatives until,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55as a troubled teenager, she ended up in care.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Nobody spoke about it.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Nothing was discussed in those kind of days.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04I mean, I've absolutely no doubt I was never discussed
0:14:04 > 0:14:05after I left the family.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Or if I was, it wouldn't have been in front of you, I don't suppose.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- Quite.- So...
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Um, there was a childhood together. That's the...
0:14:17 > 0:14:19- Yeah.- I was having a childhood.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33Maureen also revealed something even more shocking
0:14:33 > 0:14:35to the 18-year-old Gregor.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41The Fishers were not their birth parents either.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43They had, in fact, adopted them.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48So, there was yet another mystery.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52All that Maureen could tell him was that they had a mother
0:14:52 > 0:14:55who had lived in Clackmannanshire
0:14:55 > 0:14:58and that they thought she was now dead
0:14:58 > 0:15:00and that there was another sister.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03They had another sister, an older sister
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and that she might hold the key.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Their mother had had all of them out of wedlock.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11It wasn't information that he wanted to hear.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14And I did say, much to my shame,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17"You could forgive somebody one, couldn't you?
0:15:17 > 0:15:18"Two...
0:15:19 > 0:15:21"..maybe.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23"But three? Oh, come on."
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Which is, you know...not good.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33But that was when I was 17 or 18 or something.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37You know, at that stage in my life where I knew everything.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41There wasn't anything I didn't know.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43He didn't want to know any more, really.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Um, and that was...
0:15:45 > 0:15:47He just went on and went off to drama school
0:15:47 > 0:15:51and kind of tried to forget about it, I think,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55and just thought of Cis and the Fishers as his family.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06At the age of 21,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Gregor left drama school for a life in the theatre.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18- Fisher, where are you? - Oh, here he is. That's it.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Stand by your beds.
0:16:20 > 0:16:21How are you?
0:16:21 > 0:16:22Here, Gregor would meet
0:16:22 > 0:16:25his long-term comedy partner, Tony Roper.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28- Just the thought of seeing you. - Aye, that's right.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31- You were all of aquiver. - My heart went, "Whoo!"- Aye, me too.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34- How are you? You're looking well. - Aye, so are you, pal. So are you.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36- Thank you very much. - Thanks very much.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37This is a bit of a thing here.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39I have to tell you, it was a bit weird being back in here.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42- I havenae been in here for years. - I was just thinking the same.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44- APPLAUSE - As young actors,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Tony and Gregor learnt the ropes together,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49working across Scotland's theatres.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51There is a huge buzz fae this.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54The laughs started there
0:16:54 > 0:16:56and they would go all the way back
0:16:56 > 0:17:00and you got a good laugh or a big-knicker laugh.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02- Yeah.- The big-knicker laugh
0:17:02 > 0:17:05was all the old-age pensioners that sat in the front there.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07If you told a really good joke and it went well,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09they all rocked back and forward.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13HE IMITATES OLD WOMEN LAUGHING
0:17:13 > 0:17:15And their skirts would go up in the air.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Big knickers at the front.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19HE LAUGHS
0:17:19 > 0:17:22- They'll no' wear them nowadays, though, do they?- Aye, I think.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27I don't know. I don't really know, but, well, I've heard that anyway.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29No' much of a house the night, though, is there?
0:17:29 > 0:17:30Hellish. Nobody in the night.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34- Nae big knickers the night. - I wonder who's playing?
0:17:34 > 0:17:35Thank God it's no' you and I.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Come on. Let's get something inside us.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41- King's Cafe?- Yeah, King's Cafe, but I've had no breakfast.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43- Have you had breakfast?- Yes, I have.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45But I can have another one. That'll be no problem.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Let's have two breakfasts.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Gregor's first big break in TV came
0:17:53 > 0:17:57when comedian Rikki Fulton drafted him in to Scotch & Wry,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59which kicked off in the late '70s.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Are you Mad Mick McDonald?
0:18:09 > 0:18:12LAUGHTER
0:18:16 > 0:18:17Aye.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Could you tell me the right time, please?
0:18:24 > 0:18:26LAUGHTER
0:18:26 > 0:18:29The thing with Gregor is that wonderful twinkle
0:18:29 > 0:18:31in his eye...eyes,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34um, when he was doing a character.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37We'd rehearse, rehearse and he'd go through it
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and suddenly, when it was like, "And action!"
0:18:39 > 0:18:41the eyes would light up.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45A good example of that is the Hamlet sketch,
0:18:45 > 0:18:46which I had written.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48You know, the guy in the photo booth.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS
0:18:50 > 0:18:52Again, he rehearsed it three times, the moves,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54and then I think it was one take
0:18:54 > 0:18:57and that moment when his eyes light up
0:18:57 > 0:19:01just before the seat goes down is absolutely wonderful.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS
0:19:04 > 0:19:06SEAT CLUNKS, CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS
0:19:09 > 0:19:10Just face acting.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14There's no dialogue or anything. It's all in his expression.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18The mild cigar.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Absolutely wonderful.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22And that's when I think I realised, I thought,
0:19:22 > 0:19:24"Actually, this guy's a wee bit special."
0:19:24 > 0:19:26Room 101.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Gregor also landed some serious film roles,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32including Parsons in 1984,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35alongside Richard Burton and John Hurt.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37Please.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39You don't have to take me there.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Why? There's nothing I won't confess.
0:19:45 > 0:19:46Nothing.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50I've told you everything already.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53What is it you want me to know?
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Take him instead of me.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59He's the thought criminal. It's him you want.
0:20:04 > 0:20:05After he'd done this scene,
0:20:05 > 0:20:07Richard Burton came up to him and said,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10"I was watching you. You were very good."
0:20:10 > 0:20:12And Gregor was absolutely, you know,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15quite emotionally touched by that.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17As he put it, he says, "Here was this...
0:20:17 > 0:20:19"A wee boy fae Neilston."
0:20:19 > 0:20:21And he says, "Here's Richard Burton, this big star."
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Who he thought of as Alexander the Great,
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Mark Antony, all these characters,
0:20:25 > 0:20:26coming up and paying him that compliment,
0:20:26 > 0:20:29which must've been fantastic.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31MUSIC: Naked Video theme song
0:20:33 > 0:20:39In 1986, a dynamic new comedy show appeared on British television,
0:20:39 > 0:20:40Naked Video.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Hello, hello, hello, hello. LAUGHTER
0:20:47 > 0:20:51The series featured a mix of rapid fire satirical sketches
0:20:51 > 0:20:55by a team of writers for an ensemble cast.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58LAUGHTER
0:20:58 > 0:21:00- I like a bit of lemon with my fish. - Yes, he does.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03He does like a bit of lemon with his fish.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05And if there's a piece of lemon on the photograph,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08there should be a piece of lemon on the plate.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Um, the lemon's off today.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13- The lemon man didn't turn up. - LAUGHTER
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Guy Hamilton, chartered accountant.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Andy Rennick, motor mechanic.
0:21:22 > 0:21:23Argh!
0:21:25 > 0:21:28- Robin Galbraith, stupid prick. - LAUGHTER
0:21:31 > 0:21:34MUSIC: Morning Mood by Edvard Grieg
0:21:36 > 0:21:40One character was about to emerge,
0:21:40 > 0:21:43a character who would overshadow all others.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47MUSIC BUILDS TO A CRESCENDO
0:21:53 > 0:21:56What was initially known as The Ranting Man sketch
0:21:56 > 0:22:00was born from the pen of writer Ian Pattison.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03This old jotter is 30 years old
0:22:03 > 0:22:07and it contains the first ever Nesbitt sketch.
0:22:07 > 0:22:08I'd started to write this monologue
0:22:08 > 0:22:11and from out of nowhere, I couldn't explain it,
0:22:11 > 0:22:16I'd just got this kind of jingling, rhythmic Glasgow speak in my head.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19And it just went, "Me? You're asking me?
0:22:19 > 0:22:22"Listen, I think it's out of order what this government is doing
0:22:22 > 0:22:24"to people like me today. OTT altogether."
0:22:24 > 0:22:25But it was basically that.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27So, it took about 20 minutes to write
0:22:27 > 0:22:30and basically changed my little life.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Gregor didnae want to do Rab C.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35- That's right, he didn't. - We were doing...
0:22:35 > 0:22:37We were doing Naked Video
0:22:37 > 0:22:40and the director came on and said,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44"Ian Pattison has written a monologue. Who wants to do it?"
0:22:44 > 0:22:46And it was coming near the end of the shoot
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and nobody wanted to do it cos you'd to learn this huge big thing
0:22:49 > 0:22:51and it was only one take.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53It's a monologue, so you can't come away with it
0:22:53 > 0:22:56and he forced it on Greg and Greg didnae want to do it.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57I wasn't particularly keen
0:22:57 > 0:23:00and I didn't learn the thing particularly well.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02I think... Did I learn it?
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Well, I tried to learn it, but I think in a half-hearted way.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09And I think I hoped that it would die the death.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Are you talking to me?
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Don't you talk to me, hey.
0:23:14 > 0:23:15Listen, I'll tell you,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18the trouble with this Tory government is what they're doing
0:23:18 > 0:23:22to people like me and there you are.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24See people like them? See people like me?
0:23:24 > 0:23:26It's OTT altogether. Yeah.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31There used to be a guy in Central Station in Glasgow
0:23:31 > 0:23:32that used to rant and rave at the moon.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34You know, there's a bit of that.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38There's a bit of, you know, a crazy guy I met in New York once.
0:23:38 > 0:23:39There's a bit of...
0:23:39 > 0:23:46And not least, not least, there's Ian Pattison's script.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48See when you scrape it all away,
0:23:48 > 0:23:50all the crap and you get right down to it,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52I mean, right down to the bottom line?
0:23:52 > 0:23:56They're all a lot of jumped-up fascist bastards.
0:23:56 > 0:23:57I'll tell you something else, son.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00I should know, for I was an inspector on the buses.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02LAUGHTER
0:24:02 > 0:24:07It was just fabulous and he was a glorious antihero.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10One of those guys you saw in Glasgow
0:24:10 > 0:24:14or in any major city, in Liverpool, wherever,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16you know, ranting at the moon.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20But Gregor was like, "I don't think that guy's funny.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22"Is it working?" We were all like, "Yeah."
0:24:22 > 0:24:24But, I mean, what is the answer?
0:24:24 > 0:24:26I mean, maybe you can tell me what the answer is
0:24:26 > 0:24:29because I'm Donald Duck if I know what the answer is.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31LAUGHTER
0:24:31 > 0:24:33What was your question again?
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Gregor influenced the writing in as much as
0:24:36 > 0:24:38I can be quite vinegary and sour on the page
0:24:38 > 0:24:41and Gregor has a great warmth and humanity,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43as a human being and as an actor.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45So, that came through.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50That kind of empathy took the curse off my kind of bitterness.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52So, the two seemed to gel quite well.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54We seemed to meet in the middle.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56You could send this character anywhere.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01You know, he turns up at the A&E with an axe in his head for example.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Well, here, this is the hospital.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Aye, look, I'm all right, I'm all right, I'm all right.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08You're more than all right, Rab. You're magic.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Hey, is there anybody here? Schulp!
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Where's Mrs Schulp?
0:25:13 > 0:25:14Yes, can I help you?
0:25:14 > 0:25:19Aye. Can you do something for my pal here?
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Well, that depends. What's the matter with him?
0:25:22 > 0:25:24LAUGHTER
0:25:24 > 0:25:26What's the matter with him?
0:25:26 > 0:25:29- He's got the flu. - LAUGHTER
0:25:29 > 0:25:33And then he could be in the psychiatrist's chair
0:25:33 > 0:25:37being given a diploma that certifies that he's a psychopath.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39So, you could just romp in the clover.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Being deranged is nothing to be proud of.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Aye, well, maybe not where you come fae, pal,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46but see up our street? Christ, it's like a knighthood.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Wait till I tell her this, eh.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Hey, Mary. Get your arse in here a wee minute, hen.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56- LAUGHTER - Aye, Rab. What is it? Is that you?
0:25:56 > 0:25:58That's me, hen. That is me.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01It's official. That is me. Pure mental.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Pure mental. Oh, Rab, I'm that pleased for you.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08LAUGHTER
0:26:08 > 0:26:11I thought he was a glorious character
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and by that point, we had names.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17And eventually, I found out that Rab C Nesbitt
0:26:17 > 0:26:22actually was that his grandfather was Rab A Nesbitt,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25his father was Rab B Nesbitt and he was Rab C.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27- You know what we're going to do? - What, Rab?
0:26:27 > 0:26:30A pair like you and I is gonnae get tanked up
0:26:30 > 0:26:32and then we're gonnae stagger hame
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and then you and me is gonnae have a barney.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38- Oh! - LAUGHTER
0:26:38 > 0:26:40And then I'm gonnae tap you for a fiver,
0:26:40 > 0:26:41you're gonnae say no
0:26:41 > 0:26:43and then I'm gonnae take you up the outpatients department
0:26:43 > 0:26:46to get stitched. LAUGHTER
0:26:46 > 0:26:48What do you say to that, eh? Eh? Eh?
0:26:48 > 0:26:50What can I say, Rab?
0:26:50 > 0:26:5320 year married and you're still a romantic.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57In Mary Doll, Rab had found his match.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58Argh!
0:27:00 > 0:27:04In reality, Gregor had also been pursuing the woman of his dreams.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09A young actress he had met whilst working in the theatre.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Ah, the very first time I remember Gregor and Vicki
0:27:13 > 0:27:16being in the same room together, so the first time they met, I think,
0:27:16 > 0:27:18was at read-through of this play.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22But at that stage, most of us were all single
0:27:22 > 0:27:25and really what you're doing is reading it and thinking,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28"She looks quite nice. Oh. Hmm."
0:27:28 > 0:27:30And you're kind of showing off to...
0:27:30 > 0:27:32The girls are all doing a bit...
0:27:32 > 0:27:34It's all done as though nobody was bothering,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36but there's that wonderful undercurrent
0:27:36 > 0:27:37where everybody's going,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40"Hm, I wonder if any joy could be had there?"
0:27:40 > 0:27:47And I think Gregor's wee mind must have been racing like a stock car
0:27:47 > 0:27:49when he saw Vicki.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Eyes like sapphires in the night.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Well, I thought they were rather nice.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58And I thought, "Oh, hello. We're in trouble here."
0:27:58 > 0:28:01It became clear that he was quite keen on me,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04but I wasn't in that space at all.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06I wasn't looking for a relationship
0:28:06 > 0:28:09and I was quite happy being single and...
0:28:09 > 0:28:12So, it was slightly...it was slightly awkward, I guess.
0:28:12 > 0:28:13I was smitten.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18He was absolutely lovesick. Oh, just ridiculous.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21And he used to corner me and say, "What do you think?" and all that.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23I told him, "I think you're punching above your weight,
0:28:23 > 0:28:25"so I wouldnae bother."
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Maybe I wore her down. You'd have to ask her about that.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31He just didn't give up and I guess I finally...
0:28:31 > 0:28:35I finally twigged that, you know, "You're very lucky, Vic,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39"that this person is here for you cos he is."
0:28:39 > 0:28:41I didn't think I was aiming high.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44I think she was probably aiming a bit high.
0:28:47 > 0:28:48He's a marvel.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55Gregor and Vicki found happiness in family life
0:28:55 > 0:28:57and went on to have three children.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05Sadly, Cis, the woman who brought Gregor up
0:29:05 > 0:29:09did not live long enough to see her grandchildren.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11She died when Gregor was 30.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22By now, Gregor was finally ready
0:29:22 > 0:29:24to unlock the secrets of his birth mother.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32Until Cis died, he didn't go looking for his birth parents
0:29:32 > 0:29:33just because he didn't want to.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37He didn't want to upset Cis cos he loved her so deeply.
0:29:39 > 0:29:46He then felt released, I think, to go back and find out a bit more.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53The next clue to Gregor's early childhood
0:29:53 > 0:29:57lay with the one person who could actually remember their separation
0:29:57 > 0:29:59following their birth mother's death.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04The eldest of his two sisters, Ann.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10Once she had died, I was staying with a lady, a friend
0:30:10 > 0:30:13and of course, immediate reaction as well,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16- "What about Maureen and Gregor?" - Yeah.
0:30:16 > 0:30:17"Well, they'll come back."
0:30:19 > 0:30:22- Which never happened.- No. - And that was it.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26I was never told where you had gone, from...
0:30:26 > 0:30:27Wasn't it with...?
0:30:27 > 0:30:29- You were never given any kind of explanation as to...?- No.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33- We were just gone. That was it. - No. You were gone and that was it.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36So, consequently, it wasn't just losing Mum.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40I had lost you and Maureen.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45And if I asked questions, "Oh, we don't talk about that."
0:30:46 > 0:30:49And that was it. It was all brushed under the carpet.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57After their birth mother's death, the children were split up.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01Maureen and Gregor were sent to a children's home
0:31:01 > 0:31:03to await adoption...
0:31:04 > 0:31:08..whilst Ann was brought up by an aunt.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15Gregor needed answers to many questions
0:31:15 > 0:31:17if he was to make any sense of his past.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20Who was his father?
0:31:21 > 0:31:26And what was the full story of his real mother, Kit McKenzie?
0:31:26 > 0:31:27Mama.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32Now, that was the first picture you ever had of your mother.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37I reckon Kit, your mother, in that picture is probably only...
0:31:37 > 0:31:39- I don't know. Late teens. - Looks older to me.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43Don't forget that women in those days didn't dress like teenagers.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47Now, this one,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49it's only the second picture you'd ever seen of your mother.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51Yeah.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53And how...? Really, what did you feel when you saw that?
0:31:54 > 0:31:56I've got to say it's me.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00It's me. I mean, you know, isn't it?
0:32:00 > 0:32:03That's definitely me, I think, by the look of it. Wouldn't you say?
0:32:03 > 0:32:06Oh, totally. It's like you in factory uniform.
0:32:08 > 0:32:09Yeah.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13Now, then, there's mother looking very glam
0:32:13 > 0:32:16in a very shiny sort of satin affair.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19- At a work's dance.- A work's dance.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21I wonder what age she was then.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23Had she had me by then?
0:32:23 > 0:32:25Possibly, though I think she was ill.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28- How would you know? There's no... - Oh, hang on, there's a date.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30Oh, there's a date. 1951.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35- OK. So, that would...- She's got Ann. No, she hasn't had Maureen either.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37Maybe that was the night of the conception, then.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43- Might be.- You're so romantic.
0:32:43 > 0:32:44- Yeah. Well, it might have been.- Not.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51In taking on the task of unravelling this complex family mystery,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54journalist Melanie Reid faced a number of challenges of her own.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Not only would this be her first book,
0:32:59 > 0:33:02but after a horse riding accident five years ago,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04she now uses a wheelchair.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08When I was writing the book, I got so lost in the story
0:33:08 > 0:33:10that I forgot about my own condition.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12For about six months, it was wonderful.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16I just forgot about my problems, I was so lost in the story.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18And that was...that was great. Yeah.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25I think I realised very early on that his mother, Kit...
0:33:27 > 0:33:28..was the absolute key to it
0:33:28 > 0:33:31because she was the kind of mystery at the heart of it.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35So, I really began, I suppose, by tracing her steps,
0:33:35 > 0:33:41going back to where she was born, finding out about her father and...
0:33:42 > 0:33:45I mean, her life was very tragic and that's how...
0:33:45 > 0:33:47That was my sort of starting point.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52- Come on, then. Come on. - DOGS BARK
0:33:54 > 0:33:55- Should I shut these doors or not? - Yeah.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57If you shut them, that would be great, thanks.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Gregor and Melanie set out on a series of road trips
0:34:00 > 0:34:04as part of the process of writing the book.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06It was him and me getting in the car together,
0:34:06 > 0:34:12sort of Dastardly and Muttley and going off and...exploring.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15- I shall get the door for you, madam. - Thank you.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21Have you ever been driven by a cripple before?
0:34:21 > 0:34:24Have I ever been driven by a cripple?
0:34:24 > 0:34:27Christ, we'll get shot for saying that.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30Why? Why?
0:34:30 > 0:34:32Well, it's all right if you say it, but not if I say it.
0:34:32 > 0:34:33Yeah. Well, I said it.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38The most obvious place to start was with Kit's family history
0:34:38 > 0:34:40in her hometown of Menstrie.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45- And you have got over the name of it.- No.
0:34:45 > 0:34:46Have you?
0:34:46 > 0:34:48No. Menstrie. I mean...
0:34:48 > 0:34:52You see, you know... They're lovely people in Menstrie
0:34:52 > 0:34:54and I don't want to offend anybody, really,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56but Menstrie, as a name,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00it would not be my first choice, I'd have to say.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03- But it doesn't mean that. - No, it means...- What is it?
0:35:03 > 0:35:05It means the hill on the strath.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Yeah, well, why didn't they just call it Strath Hill or something?
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Do you know what I mean? HE SIGHS
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Menstrie, in central Scotland,
0:35:19 > 0:35:21is one of many small industrial villages
0:35:21 > 0:35:23at the foot of the Ochil Hills.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Gregor's birth grandfather, Matthew McKenzie,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32worked here as a maintenance fitter in the Glenochil Distillery.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36The distillery archive helped Melanie and Gregor
0:35:36 > 0:35:40get a taste for Matthew's working life.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42- So, this would have been taken in the 1920s.- OK.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45And this shows you just the scale of the distillery here.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48It would have employed so many people that lived in the village,
0:35:48 > 0:35:50if not most of the people that lived in the village.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Surrounded by whisky galore,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57temptation was never far away for the workers.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59They mentioned how they were smuggling the whiskey
0:35:59 > 0:36:02out of the distillery in the nosebags of the horses.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05And also attached...
0:36:05 > 0:36:07They would have made copper containers
0:36:07 > 0:36:10- that would have gone round their tummies...- Body belts.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12Exactly, body belts. ..that they would have filled.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14- So, they were quite ingenious. - They were ingenious.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16They would have had dramming then anyway.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18So, once a day, all of the staff would have had a dram.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20- They would have got a nip. - Really?- Yeah.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22That didn't stop until the 1970s.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26For the distillery workers,
0:36:26 > 0:36:30the local church played a central role in village life.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35Gregor's birth mother's family were regular churchgoers.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39We really are walking in their footsteps here.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43- This was one of their real familiar places.- Hm.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48Gregor's grandfather, Matthew McKenzie,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51was a pillar of the Menstrie Parish Church,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54playing the organ here for 18 years.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57HE PLAYS A HYMN
0:37:15 > 0:37:17There you are. SHE APPLAUDS
0:37:17 > 0:37:20- Hello, Grandpa.- That was fantastic.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Matthew McKenzie, the grandfather Gregor never knew,
0:37:28 > 0:37:30fell to his death from a ladder at work
0:37:30 > 0:37:34just days before his daughter Kit's 21st birthday.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37This is about the death of your grandfather.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42"The news of his sudden death cast a shadow on every house
0:37:42 > 0:37:46"and the congregation assembled in the church at his funeral
0:37:46 > 0:37:48"on Saturday the 12th of March
0:37:48 > 0:37:51"and we mourned the loss of a friend."
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Matthew's death was one of many disasters Kit suffered.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02The first had been the loss of her mother at birth
0:38:02 > 0:38:05and there was yet more disappointment and heartache ahead.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11Of the many tragedies in Kit's life,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13yet another one was the way she was treated
0:38:13 > 0:38:15by her first proper boyfriend...
0:38:17 > 0:38:19..who was a farm worker.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21And she'd been going out with him for two years.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24And she became pregnant,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28um, and obviously, they were expected to get married.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31Well, she was expected to get married.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34And when she was four months pregnant,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38he bought a five pound ticket to Australia and emigrated
0:38:38 > 0:38:41and was never heard of hide nor hair again.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45Kit was left carrying an illegitimate baby,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48having to bear the burden of shame in the community.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Kit chose the life of a single mother,
0:38:57 > 0:39:01juggling jobs to make ends meet rather than give up her baby, Ann.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Six years later, she had Maureen
0:39:08 > 0:39:11and 18 months after that, Gregor.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17All three children were illegitimate.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22You wouldnae feel very churchy
0:39:22 > 0:39:24if, when you were walking down the street
0:39:24 > 0:39:25with three children in tow,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28most of the people who went to the church
0:39:28 > 0:39:30were giving you filthy looks, would you?
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Your oldest sister, Ann, was christened here,
0:39:33 > 0:39:38even though your mother, by that time, was a fallen woman.
0:39:38 > 0:39:39Your sister Maureen was...
0:39:39 > 0:39:40She was christened here,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43but she was christened in the vestry.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46- Of course.- Which...- Out of sight.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48Out of sight of the congregation.
0:39:48 > 0:39:49- Indeed.- Which is...
0:39:49 > 0:39:52And then when number three came along, which I was, they'd say,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55- "No, you're having a laugh." - Things...
0:39:55 > 0:39:58You were too far gone. You were lost.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09Records show that Kit McKenzie, Gregor's birth mother,
0:40:09 > 0:40:13lived with her three children in Glenochil Terrace,
0:40:13 > 0:40:16a small row of houses close to the distillery.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24Gregor's sister Ann hopes to prompt his memory
0:40:24 > 0:40:26by taking him there,
0:40:26 > 0:40:28although he was only a toddler at the time.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34Can you remember anything about here?
0:40:34 > 0:40:36I remember smell and I'll tell you what else.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38I remember the hills.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41- Do you see that V in the hill there, where the two hills...?- Mm-hm.
0:40:41 > 0:40:42There's a sort of gully there.
0:40:44 > 0:40:45I remember that.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51This is where the railway line was and then over there was a big gap
0:40:51 > 0:40:55and that was our house and there was a washhouse there.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59- Where the molasses tanks are? - Where the molasses tanks are.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02And, see, right in between the two, the houses were.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05- They were smack bang there? - Yes. Yeah.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08What was it like inside?
0:41:08 > 0:41:10I mean, I have no picture of it. I have no memory of it.
0:41:10 > 0:41:15It was one room and we all slept in one room with one window.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19- Is that right?- Yes. I slept in bed with Mum.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23You and Maureen - one at the bottom of the bed and one at the side.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25This sounds positively Dickensian. Was it?
0:41:25 > 0:41:27I mean, was it warm? Was it comfortable?
0:41:27 > 0:41:31It was comfortable, it was cosy cos we always had a big fire
0:41:31 > 0:41:33and we always had nice food.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35It was nice. It was a happy home.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42After Gregor's birth, their mother's health began to fail.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46And the responsibility for the entire family
0:41:46 > 0:41:48fell to the eight-year-old Ann.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52You were looking after our mother?
0:41:52 > 0:41:55I was looking after her cos she used to, with her bad heart,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58she used to pass out and you had to just lift her head,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02tap her face and give her a drink of water
0:42:02 > 0:42:06and leave her quietly to come round again.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08- No-one to help?- No-one to help, no.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12She was there for us all the time.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14She loved us and she gave us a good home.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22She was diagnosed with mitral stenosis.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25The mitral valves of her heart were deteriorating.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29And by the time she had Gregor, they were obviously failing badly.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35So, it was an exquisitely sad story.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39A woman dying so young and leaving three little children -
0:42:39 > 0:42:4218 months, three and 10.
0:42:43 > 0:42:48And they were all scattered to the...scattered to the three winds.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56Kit's story was almost complete,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59but there was still a mystery surrounding the identity
0:42:59 > 0:43:01of Gregor's real father.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Gregor's career really took off in the late '80s
0:43:09 > 0:43:13when Rab C Nesbitt was given his own BBC series.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19This hugely popular sitcom centred around Rab
0:43:19 > 0:43:22and his dysfunctional family and friends.
0:43:24 > 0:43:25This is your room.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30- Whoa!- Oh, yes!
0:43:31 > 0:43:35My favourite episode to this day is still the Spanish episode.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37That joy.
0:43:37 > 0:43:44I think them both jumping on the beds in the hotel room.
0:43:44 > 0:43:45Spain.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47I mean, who would have thought we'd live to see the day
0:43:47 > 0:43:54when trash like us was buying stuff like flip-flops and insect repellent?
0:43:54 > 0:43:56Aye, you're right, Rab.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Two weeks all to ourselves.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04A once-in-a-lifetime chance to deepen our relationship,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08to discover the hidden Rab and Mary Nesbitt.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10Oh, come here.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14LAUGHTER
0:44:14 > 0:44:17Um, that's me ready, Rab.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20Do you want to try some of that continental swally I've got?
0:44:21 > 0:44:23LAUGHTER
0:44:23 > 0:44:26We had great fun and I think the one that most people remember
0:44:26 > 0:44:29- is when we went to Spain.- Classic.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32And we were on the beach,
0:44:32 > 0:44:3412 o'clock at night for some strange reason.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36Oh, yes!
0:44:39 > 0:44:44- And I'd fancied...- Mary Doll. - ..Mary Doll.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46And I'd said to her, "Mary..."
0:44:46 > 0:44:49You're a fine-looking woman, by the way.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50And you're...
0:44:51 > 0:44:54..a fine-looking man, Jamesie.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56And then Rab was going, "Hmm."
0:44:56 > 0:44:58So, he turns to Ella, right?
0:44:58 > 0:45:00And he says, "Ella..."
0:45:00 > 0:45:02I've never told you this, but...
0:45:04 > 0:45:06..you're a hell of a good-looking woman,
0:45:06 > 0:45:08Ella Cotter, by the way.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10And I've never told you this...
0:45:11 > 0:45:12..Rab Nesbitt.
0:45:13 > 0:45:14See you...
0:45:15 > 0:45:19..you're an ugly-looking bastard.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22"And if you don't take your paws off me..."
0:45:22 > 0:45:25I'll skewer your tackle with my manicure set.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31- And he went...- Oh, I just loved it. I just loved it.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33I'll tell you something, I'm glad I'm miserable.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35I am glad I'm miserable.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40Life's no' going to buy off Rab C Nesbitt
0:45:40 > 0:45:42with a birthday song and a dose of the skitters.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45LAUGHTER I will walk alone.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48I will walk alone, there you are.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Universe said it. Universe. Harmony.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54Probably just about everybody's favourite moment in Nesbitt
0:45:54 > 0:46:01was when he's philosophising and he comes across the Spanish Nesbitt.
0:46:01 > 0:46:02Nobody knows what I'm talking about.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06DISTANT VOICE SHOUTS IN SPANISH
0:46:06 > 0:46:08HE RANTS IN SPANISH
0:46:08 > 0:46:10LAUGHTER
0:46:14 > 0:46:17Bandy! Bandy!
0:46:17 > 0:46:21Me bandy. Bandy, yeah. Bandage!
0:46:21 > 0:46:24HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:46:24 > 0:46:26You tell the bastard.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28You tell the bastard. LAUGHTER
0:46:28 > 0:46:30HE CONTINUES SPEAKING SPANISH
0:46:30 > 0:46:34HE RANTS INCOHERENTLY
0:46:34 > 0:46:36And that's just such a wonderful moment,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39where Rab realises that there's somebody else in the world
0:46:39 > 0:46:41just as mad as he is.
0:46:41 > 0:46:42He's not alone.
0:46:44 > 0:46:45See?
0:46:46 > 0:46:47My God.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52There's nothing that destroys your faith more
0:46:52 > 0:46:55in human nature than meeting some poor bastard
0:46:55 > 0:46:57that's just as mad as yourself, you know?
0:46:57 > 0:46:59LAUGHTER
0:46:59 > 0:47:05I think making it look as natural as he did, and does,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08is a skill that is really undervalued.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11And the amount of work that was...
0:47:11 > 0:47:14I mean, I was able to come in and do scenes
0:47:14 > 0:47:16and I would have days off.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18Gregor was there constantly.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21The commitment he had and the discipline he had
0:47:21 > 0:47:26to be filming six episodes
0:47:26 > 0:47:30where you are literally in every day on 12-hour days
0:47:30 > 0:47:33and where it all rests on your performance.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40As Rab C Nesbitt became a household name,
0:47:40 > 0:47:42the pressure began to mount on Gregor.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46As he became more recognised,
0:47:46 > 0:47:49it kind of made him withdraw a little bit, retreat,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53and not go out so much and not be as sociable
0:47:53 > 0:47:57because it was quite overwhelming sometimes when you were out.
0:47:57 > 0:47:58To them, it was Rab
0:47:58 > 0:48:01and Gregor's, like, all dressed and looking his best...
0:48:02 > 0:48:05..and he'd bought a pie and a bridie, I think,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07and as we're walking by, there's a guy shouting,
0:48:07 > 0:48:11"Oh, Rab. Is that you got a pie there, Rab?
0:48:11 > 0:48:13"You greedy bastard, Rab."
0:48:13 > 0:48:16And poor Gregor's just trying to eat a pie.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18STRONG GLASWEGIAN ACCENT I wish you'd go and fuck yoursel'.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22You're giving the place a fucking bad name!
0:48:24 > 0:48:25And I thought,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28"I think the irony of that remark's rather lost on you, sir."
0:48:28 > 0:48:31It becomes, as an actor, it becomes like a straitjacket.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34A gold-lined straitjacket, but people think that's who you are.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44But the fact that Gregor is best known as Rab C
0:48:44 > 0:48:47has not stopped directors casting him in high-profile parts.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51What...do you want?
0:48:53 > 0:48:56Please, sir, I want some more.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59What?
0:48:59 > 0:49:01What did you say?
0:49:01 > 0:49:02I said...
0:49:04 > 0:49:07..please, sir, I want some more.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10He's even grappled with Shakespeare
0:49:10 > 0:49:14opposite Hollywood A-lister Al Pacino.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19How now, Shylock.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26What news amongst the merchants?
0:49:26 > 0:49:28You knew of my daughter's flight.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32None so well...
0:49:33 > 0:49:35None so well as you.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Well, this is a surprise.
0:49:38 > 0:49:39Yeah.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42Ten minutes at Elton John's, you're as gay as a maypole?
0:49:42 > 0:49:44No. Look, I'm serious here.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48I left Elton's, where there were a hefty number of half-naked chicks
0:49:48 > 0:49:52with their mouths open, in order to hang out with you
0:49:52 > 0:49:53at Christmas.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57Well, Bill...
0:49:57 > 0:50:01It's a terrible, terrible mistake, Chubs.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08But you turn out to be the fucking love of my life.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22Over the years, Gregor had collected clues about his birth father,
0:50:22 > 0:50:24but it was only when he started working with Melanie
0:50:24 > 0:50:28that they were able to fill in some of the crucial gaps.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33It was more of a sort of detective thing.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36It was more, "Oh, I wonder what happened to him
0:50:36 > 0:50:39"and I wonder what he did do and where he lived
0:50:39 > 0:50:42"and what his family were like and, you know...
0:50:43 > 0:50:46"..what about...? Who would my grandfather have been, then?"
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Things that normal people just take for granted.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52They had a name, one that Gregor discovered
0:50:52 > 0:50:55while searching through his adoption papers,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58William B Kerr.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02There was a handwritten letter on Basildon Bond
0:51:02 > 0:51:04saying, you know, "I, William B Kerr,
0:51:04 > 0:51:06"relinquish all rights..."
0:51:06 > 0:51:08And saying it's OK for these children to be adopted.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13So, that was absolute confirmation that he was indeed...
0:51:16 > 0:51:17..the man.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24This is your father as a very proud young excise man...
0:51:25 > 0:51:27..in the 1920s.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30And this is him smoking a pipe, wearing a bow tie...
0:51:31 > 0:51:35- With a dug.- With a dug. Looking very sort of...
0:51:35 > 0:51:37Pleased with himself.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41Yeah. Well, an aspiring young man.
0:51:41 > 0:51:42An aspiring young man.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45And that's what he did.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50He's well-educated and he spent his life aspiring for good things.
0:51:50 > 0:51:51Hmm.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55But the mystery remained -
0:51:55 > 0:51:58how did William Kerr meet Gregor's mother, Kit?
0:52:00 > 0:52:03One clue was that, as an excise officer,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07part of William's job over the years included regular visits
0:52:07 > 0:52:10to check the books at the Glenochil Distillery.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14In a flash, the years have passed and here he is.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18Looking rather splendid in a tail coat.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23William Kerr was 61 when Gregor was born,
0:52:23 > 0:52:2530 years Kit's senior.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30He lived in a nearby suburb.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33He was a freemason, a county councillor...
0:52:34 > 0:52:36..and a married man.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40He had to make sure that everybody else in society
0:52:40 > 0:52:44was good and proper and right and then when he was in his...
0:52:44 > 0:52:48Coming up to retirement, it's like he kind of said...
0:52:48 > 0:52:49Sod it.
0:52:50 > 0:52:51I'm going to go for it.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55- "Maybe I want to live for a bit." - Yeah.- And he broke out of this...
0:52:57 > 0:53:00..straitjacket of a life that he'd lived in.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04This was when your half-brother got married in 1955.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09Your father and his wife. His long-suffering wife.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12We never talk about her, but she looks a lovely wee woman.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14- Doesn't she?- She looks like a granny.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18And he's got a young mistress and two illegitimate babies
0:53:18 > 0:53:19in a second family.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22You were back home in Menstrie
0:53:22 > 0:53:25and he was at a very grand wedding in Knightsbridge.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27He looks nothing like me.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29Do you think that looks anything like me?
0:53:29 > 0:53:31There's a twinkle in his eye.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Well, we've known that for quite some time, haven't we?
0:53:35 > 0:53:40We've worked that one out. There's a lot of twinkles in his eye.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Maybe it was the love affair to rival all love affairs.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51Maybe that's what it was.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Maybe he was the kindest man in the west of Scotland.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59But maybe he wasn't.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02My personal opinion is that there was a romance,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05that there was a genuine love affair,
0:54:05 > 0:54:06that it wasn't just...
0:54:08 > 0:54:10..a matter of cheap sex.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15Cos when William Kerr had died, they found in his wallet a poem
0:54:15 > 0:54:19and it was a very old love song called Awearyin' For You
0:54:19 > 0:54:21and it had been handwritten.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25It was about, you know, "Evening comes, I miss you more.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28"I yearn for the sound of the door latch going
0:54:28 > 0:54:29"but you've gone."
0:54:31 > 0:54:33And it was a poem about lost love.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38My belief, and it's what Gregor, I know, would love to believe,
0:54:38 > 0:54:42is that...you know, he adored Kit.
0:54:42 > 0:54:48He adored this woman that he risked everything for and he...
0:54:48 > 0:54:50When she died, he was distraught.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56And he went to his grave still with strong affections for her.
0:55:09 > 0:55:15# Just wearyin' for you
0:55:15 > 0:55:21# All the time of feeling blue
0:55:21 > 0:55:23# Wishing for you
0:55:23 > 0:55:31# Wondering when you'll be coming home again
0:55:31 > 0:55:33# Restless don't know... #
0:55:33 > 0:55:37Gregor and Vicki now spend much of their time in France.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41They have here some of Gregor's father's prized possessions.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50These were given to Gregor by the Kerrs,
0:55:50 > 0:55:53who warmly accepted him and his sister Maureen
0:55:53 > 0:55:55into their family.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03With the final pieces of the puzzle in place,
0:56:03 > 0:56:07Melanie accepts that there are certain parts of Gregor's life story
0:56:07 > 0:56:09she will never have the answers to.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12If I could meet Kit,
0:56:12 > 0:56:17I would love to ask her how much she loved Gregor's father.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21And I'd love to be able to tell her how successful and brave
0:56:21 > 0:56:24and fantastic all her children have been.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28And that one of them's, you know, enormously famous.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31It would... You know, it would be nice if she could know that...
0:56:32 > 0:56:34..in a different kind of...
0:56:35 > 0:56:37In a different kind of world.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49SHE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:56:51 > 0:56:54- That's quite a small bunch. - We'll have another one then.- Encore.
0:56:54 > 0:56:56S'il vous plait.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01We always liked the idea of moving to France.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03He doesn't speak much French,
0:57:03 > 0:57:07but in the markets, he has no trouble explaining what he wants.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10- Encore.- He mimes or acts...
0:57:10 > 0:57:12- Encore.- ..what it is that he's feeling or wanting or...
0:57:14 > 0:57:17He's terrific, actually, and, yeah, they love it.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21THEY SPEAK FRENCH
0:57:24 > 0:57:28Even here, Gregor can never fully escape his past.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30Can I have a photo of you, please?
0:57:30 > 0:57:33You can have a photo any time you like with me.
0:57:33 > 0:57:34I know. It's Rab C Nesbitt!
0:57:34 > 0:57:36Of course you can. Come round the front.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40Gregor's recent journey through his family history
0:57:40 > 0:57:42has given him food for thought.
0:57:42 > 0:57:44Smile. OK, perfect.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48It's nice to just now and again blow a trumpet
0:57:48 > 0:57:51for the ordinary people in this story.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55The ordinary people, like my mother,
0:57:55 > 0:58:00who were ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03You know, the people who you would pass in the street
0:58:03 > 0:58:08and not give a second glance to, but these are the people.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12If some boy, some girl,
0:58:12 > 0:58:14who maybe hasn't had the best start in life
0:58:14 > 0:58:16happens to think, "He's done all right.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20"Look, come on. If he can do it, so can I."
0:58:20 > 0:58:21That would be a good thing.