In Search of Gregor Fisher

Gregor Fisher has been making millions laugh for over 40 years.

-Argh!

-LAUGHTER

Tell you one thing.

See Sunday mornings like these?

Makes you feel great

to be half alive, eh? LAUGHTER

Star of the most successful Scottish sitcom on British TV,

Gregor is best known as drunken philosopher Rab C Nesbitt.

Rab is actually the polar opposite of Gregor

and it's a wonderful acting performance

that people believe.

I'm not sitting here listening to the likes of that.

Behind the laughs is a versatile actor of both stage and screen.

Now unburden yourself of your worries...

..and be comforted.

Bumble is here.

I've never had my eye on comedy...

Cannae park here, son. Double yellow line.

..comedy's had its eye on me.

I'm a little fat chap

with a fairly mobile face.

But I always thought that I was more of a boy for the tragedy myself.

SEAT CLUNKS, CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

Gregor has recently delved into his family's past,

discovering tragedy, lies

and a story as remarkable as any fiction.

What Gregor has been through is...

What he has survived and what he has made of his life

is quite extraordinary.

This programme contains some strong language.

Gregor Fisher is on a very personal journey

to uncover long hidden family secrets.

In order to make sense of his complicated past,

he took what few clues he had to Times journalist Melanie Reid.

There you are.

My mother says that was her pride and joy. She loved that picture.

-You were, what, five, six?

-Yeah, something like that, yeah.

-You do look very sweet.

-Very sweet.

I think I posed for it.

I think I was a pain in the neck, actually, to be quite honest.

I was probably slightly disturbed or something

because I was a love child.

Um... HE LAUGHS

-But at that stage, you didn't know you were a love child.

-No, I didn't.

-You didn't know anything.

-I didn't know anything.

Before this little boy was four years old,

he had had three different sets of parents.

I knew that this story wasn't an easy one for him,

that it would take a lot of digging,

trying to find out stuff about people who were long gone,

whose lives have been quiet, anonymous lives

and these people don't leave many traces.

Gregor grew up on the outskirts of Glasgow

in the small town of Neilston

with his best friend, Johnny Monaghan.

-Here we are.

-Great stuff.

-Back at Kirkhill Cottage.

-I know. A new gate as well.

-That wouldn't have been here.

-No, I don't remember that.

Gregor's childhood home is still occupied by an elderly relative.

This was the famous, wonderful...

-I don't...

-..outdoor loo.

Do you remember? Did you ever avail yourself?

-I think I had to on one occasion.

-More than you'd want, Johnny.

And...

-I've got to point you this way.

-Right.

Do you see there? You can't...

-You can hardly see it for the tree.

-Oh, I can see it.

-But you see it?

That was Glasgow. That tree wasn't there.

-So, you'd have the whole thing.

-And Glasgow was twinkling.

-I thought, "Oh, this is it. Died and gone to heaven."

-Yeah.

-Let's go in.

-Right.

-Here you are. Do you remember that?

-Good God.

That's the dresser from the good room.

That's the dresser from the good room.

There's Wally dugs, as well. Do you remember the Wally dugs?

The Wally dugs used to sit on either side of the mantelpiece

in the good room.

That's a concept that just...

-There is no good room now, is there?

-No, I don't...

-People don't have a good room.

-No, that's it.

And the thing was that nobody ever used the good room.

No, you weren't allowed to use it. I don't know what it was used for.

-CLOCK TICKS Remember Sundays?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Oh, Sundays were interminable.

-I know.

-It's cos there was nothing open.

-Tick.

Tick. Tick, tick, tick. That's right.

And then we used to come and play Ponnies through there.

-Do you remember Pontoon?

-Gambling.

-Gambling.

-Yes, I remember gambling.

Bible class, Sunday school, the church and then gambling.

-Marvellous.

-THEY LAUGH

Gregor lived here with John and Cis Leckie,

the woman he knew as his mother.

She looked like somebody of my generation's grandmother.

She wore a wraparound pinny and she'd be doing something,

she'd be making something.

She'd be contributing to the wellbeing of her family.

That was her main concern in life.

I tell you what she was - she was fun. She was great fun...

..my mother. She was always up for a laugh.

She was a mother.

A mother with a capital M.

Gregor was 14 when his cosy world was turned upside down.

A christening was on its way

and as part of the chitchat about this and that,

I said, "Where was I christened?"

And there was a bit of a pause.

Um, so, I repeated the question.

My mother started busying herself,

asking if anybody would like any more tea or toast.

But I thought, "Hello. Something's...

"What's...? Something's not right here."

Um...

Anyway, with that thought in my head, I went to bed

and I thought no more about it

until there was a knock on my bedroom door,

a thing that was unheard of in my house.

You know, nobody knocked.

And my mother came in

and said that I had been adopted.

Um, and that...

Something, you know...

"Anyway, we look after you now."

And patted me on the head...twice.

I don't mean to paint a picture of a family that was unloving

because they weren't.

My mother was the most loving person I've ever met in my entire life.

But physical displays of affection were not the thing in those days,

so that was an extreme show of affection,

the pat-pat of the hair.

And that was the end of that.

I wasn't actually part of her.

Much to my shame, I wasn't very nice for some time after that.

She'd give me my breakfast in the morning,

cereal or something and I'd take the bowl and say,

"I don't want this" and...

You know, all that shit. Stupid arse idiot that I was.

He'd been sort of vaguely aware

that there were things in his vague memory

that said he wasn't exactly who he...

He couldn't possibly have been Cis's son

because she was old enough to be his grandmother.

He was distraught, but because she loved him dearly

and he adored her, he didn't want to rock the boat.

And, in fact, he just sort of stuck it away in his consciousness

and didn't think about it anymore.

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

School life for Gregor was just as tricky.

I knew for certain that school and academic life

was not the thing for me, really.

I got one O Level, by the way.

Art. Still life and embroidery.

A drone's life loomed before me.

He left school as soon as he could in 1969 at the age of 15.

So, off to work I went...

..in various jobs.

Making sticky tape that was exported all over the...

It seemed all to go to Africa, that sticky tape. I don't know why.

I didn't last very long there.

I went to Shanks in Barrhead, made lavatories.

Didn't care for that either.

Then I was a barman. Didn't last very long at that.

I had a job cutting grass and that didn't last very long

because I sat down on the job one day to have a fag

and was sacked on the spot.

So, I had to walk from Paisley to Neilston.

The walk of shame.

But there was one thing he could do well.

He knew how to entertain people.

At 18, he was old enough to apply for drama college.

The hour approacheth that I did an audition

at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

And, um...

..they let me in.

Gregor's family life was not so straightforward.

Unsolved mysteries from his past were resurfacing.

It wasn't, in fact, until he was 18 years old

when he got a letter from a complete stranger saying,

"You don't know me, but I'm your sister

"and my name is Maureen."

I went, "Oh? Really?"

Very neat handwriting. I remember that.

TRAIN STATION TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT

After a brief exchange of letters, Gregor and Maureen arrange to meet.

I remember being kitted out in cousin Billy's suit,

his best Reid & Taylor suit

and heading off to Glasgow Central Station.

Couldnae write this, actually.

It sounds like a bad sitcom or something,

but we met outside the lost property office.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Did you think I was never going to be coming?

-I did.

-I thought that.

-You thought you were going to be stood up

-outside the left luggage office.

-The left luggage office.

I didn't know her. She didn't know me.

It was just...odd.

You know, some people you see in the street, you think,

"Things aren't going well for you."

She had a kind of...

..terrible, um...

..vulnerability about her.

Somebody that had had a right good slapping.

Life had not treated Maureen well.

Despite her troubled life,

Maureen was determined to help rebuild the family she had lost.

I wrote the letter because I thought

it's time now I find out what happened to Gregor, I think.

I knew about you,

although you probably had very little memory of me.

And I had seen you at family parties when we were younger and everything.

And I think I probably...

I did. I hit the age where I thought,

"I'm going to do something about this now."

Maureen was also old enough

to remember their early childhood together.

Everybody used to say what a lovely wee boy you were

-with your blonde curls.

-Oh, right.

And my hair was straight and I remember getting the...

-It was pinking shears, you know, for cutting material.

-Oh, right. OK.

And I cut your curls off.

-Oh, did you?

-Cos everybody said you were lovely.

And that really annoyed you.

THEY LAUGH

I must have been maybe four and you'd be...

-Well, you were two and a half or something.

-Right.

Gregor learned that he and Maureen

had been brought up by Jim and Ellen Fisher.

But tragedy had struck.

Ellen Fisher had fallen in a fire

and her nightdress had gone up in flames and she had died.

It was at that point that Jim Fisher's sister,

who was Cis, had come in, whipped him away.

And, of course, in those days, you know,

social work didn't control that sort of thing.

You know, "Oh, someone will look after him."

And he was whipped away to be brought up unofficially by Cis.

So, while Gregor was cared for by Cis,

whom he knew as Mum, Maureen was not so lucky.

Separated from her brother,

she was looked after by other relatives until,

as a troubled teenager, she ended up in care.

Nobody spoke about it.

Nothing was discussed in those kind of days.

I mean, I've absolutely no doubt I was never discussed

after I left the family.

Or if I was, it wouldn't have been in front of you, I don't suppose.

-Quite.

-So...

Um, there was a childhood together. That's the...

-Yeah.

-I was having a childhood.

Maureen also revealed something even more shocking

to the 18-year-old Gregor.

The Fishers were not their birth parents either.

They had, in fact, adopted them.

So, there was yet another mystery.

All that Maureen could tell him was that they had a mother

who had lived in Clackmannanshire

and that they thought she was now dead

and that there was another sister.

They had another sister, an older sister

and that she might hold the key.

Their mother had had all of them out of wedlock.

It wasn't information that he wanted to hear.

And I did say, much to my shame,

"You could forgive somebody one, couldn't you?

"Two...

"..maybe.

"But three? Oh, come on."

Which is, you know...not good.

But that was when I was 17 or 18 or something.

You know, at that stage in my life where I knew everything.

There wasn't anything I didn't know.

He didn't want to know any more, really.

Um, and that was...

He just went on and went off to drama school

and kind of tried to forget about it, I think,

and just thought of Cis and the Fishers as his family.

At the age of 21,

Gregor left drama school for a life in the theatre.

-Fisher, where are you?

-Oh, here he is. That's it.

Stand by your beds.

How are you?

Here, Gregor would meet

his long-term comedy partner, Tony Roper.

-Just the thought of seeing you.

-Aye, that's right.

-You were all of aquiver.

-My heart went, "Whoo!"

-Aye, me too.

-How are you? You're looking well.

-Aye, so are you, pal. So are you.

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks very much.

This is a bit of a thing here.

I have to tell you, it was a bit weird being back in here.

-I havenae been in here for years.

-I was just thinking the same.

-APPLAUSE

-As young actors,

Tony and Gregor learnt the ropes together,

working across Scotland's theatres.

There is a huge buzz fae this.

The laughs started there

and they would go all the way back

and you got a good laugh or a big-knicker laugh.

-Yeah.

-The big-knicker laugh

was all the old-age pensioners that sat in the front there.

If you told a really good joke and it went well,

they all rocked back and forward.

HE IMITATES OLD WOMEN LAUGHING

And their skirts would go up in the air.

Big knickers at the front.

HE LAUGHS

-They'll no' wear them nowadays, though, do they?

-Aye, I think.

I don't know. I don't really know, but, well, I've heard that anyway.

No' much of a house the night, though, is there?

Hellish. Nobody in the night.

-Nae big knickers the night.

-I wonder who's playing?

Thank God it's no' you and I.

Come on. Let's get something inside us.

-King's Cafe?

-Yeah, King's Cafe, but I've had no breakfast.

-Have you had breakfast?

-Yes, I have.

But I can have another one. That'll be no problem.

Let's have two breakfasts.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Gregor's first big break in TV came

when comedian Rikki Fulton drafted him in to Scotch & Wry,

which kicked off in the late '70s.

Are you Mad Mick McDonald?

LAUGHTER

Aye.

Could you tell me the right time, please?

LAUGHTER

The thing with Gregor is that wonderful twinkle

in his eye...eyes,

um, when he was doing a character.

We'd rehearse, rehearse and he'd go through it

and suddenly, when it was like, "And action!"

the eyes would light up.

A good example of that is the Hamlet sketch,

which I had written.

You know, the guy in the photo booth.

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

Again, he rehearsed it three times, the moves,

and then I think it was one take

and that moment when his eyes light up

just before the seat goes down is absolutely wonderful.

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

SEAT CLUNKS, CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

Just face acting.

There's no dialogue or anything. It's all in his expression.

Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet.

The mild cigar.

Absolutely wonderful.

And that's when I think I realised, I thought,

"Actually, this guy's a wee bit special."

Room 101.

Gregor also landed some serious film roles,

including Parsons in 1984,

alongside Richard Burton and John Hurt.

Please.

You don't have to take me there.

Why? There's nothing I won't confess.

Nothing.

I've told you everything already.

What is it you want me to know?

Take him instead of me.

He's the thought criminal. It's him you want.

After he'd done this scene,

Richard Burton came up to him and said,

"I was watching you. You were very good."

And Gregor was absolutely, you know,

quite emotionally touched by that.

As he put it, he says, "Here was this...

"A wee boy fae Neilston."

And he says, "Here's Richard Burton, this big star."

Who he thought of as Alexander the Great,

Mark Antony, all these characters,

coming up and paying him that compliment,

which must've been fantastic.

MUSIC: Naked Video theme song

In 1986, a dynamic new comedy show appeared on British television,

Naked Video.

Hello, hello, hello, hello. LAUGHTER

The series featured a mix of rapid fire satirical sketches

by a team of writers for an ensemble cast.

LAUGHTER

-I like a bit of lemon with my fish.

-Yes, he does.

He does like a bit of lemon with his fish.

And if there's a piece of lemon on the photograph,

there should be a piece of lemon on the plate.

Um, the lemon's off today.

-The lemon man didn't turn up.

-LAUGHTER

Guy Hamilton, chartered accountant.

Andy Rennick, motor mechanic.

Argh!

-Robin Galbraith, stupid prick.

-LAUGHTER

MUSIC: Morning Mood by Edvard Grieg

One character was about to emerge,

a character who would overshadow all others.

MUSIC BUILDS TO A CRESCENDO

What was initially known as The Ranting Man sketch

was born from the pen of writer Ian Pattison.

This old jotter is 30 years old

and it contains the first ever Nesbitt sketch.

I'd started to write this monologue

and from out of nowhere, I couldn't explain it,

I'd just got this kind of jingling, rhythmic Glasgow speak in my head.

And it just went, "Me? You're asking me?

"Listen, I think it's out of order what this government is doing

"to people like me today. OTT altogether."

But it was basically that.

So, it took about 20 minutes to write

and basically changed my little life.

Gregor didnae want to do Rab C.

-That's right, he didn't.

-We were doing...

We were doing Naked Video

and the director came on and said,

"Ian Pattison has written a monologue. Who wants to do it?"

And it was coming near the end of the shoot

and nobody wanted to do it cos you'd to learn this huge big thing

and it was only one take.

It's a monologue, so you can't come away with it

and he forced it on Greg and Greg didnae want to do it.

I wasn't particularly keen

and I didn't learn the thing particularly well.

I think... Did I learn it?

Well, I tried to learn it, but I think in a half-hearted way.

And I think I hoped that it would die the death.

Are you talking to me?

Don't you talk to me, hey.

Listen, I'll tell you,

the trouble with this Tory government is what they're doing

to people like me and there you are.

See people like them? See people like me?

It's OTT altogether. Yeah.

There used to be a guy in Central Station in Glasgow

that used to rant and rave at the moon.

You know, there's a bit of that.

There's a bit of, you know, a crazy guy I met in New York once.

There's a bit of...

And not least, not least, there's Ian Pattison's script.

See when you scrape it all away,

all the crap and you get right down to it,

I mean, right down to the bottom line?

They're all a lot of jumped-up fascist bastards.

I'll tell you something else, son.

I should know, for I was an inspector on the buses.

LAUGHTER

It was just fabulous and he was a glorious antihero.

One of those guys you saw in Glasgow

or in any major city, in Liverpool, wherever,

you know, ranting at the moon.

But Gregor was like, "I don't think that guy's funny.

"Is it working?" We were all like, "Yeah."

But, I mean, what is the answer?

I mean, maybe you can tell me what the answer is

because I'm Donald Duck if I know what the answer is.

LAUGHTER

What was your question again?

Gregor influenced the writing in as much as

I can be quite vinegary and sour on the page

and Gregor has a great warmth and humanity,

as a human being and as an actor.

So, that came through.

That kind of empathy took the curse off my kind of bitterness.

So, the two seemed to gel quite well.

We seemed to meet in the middle.

You could send this character anywhere.

You know, he turns up at the A&E with an axe in his head for example.

Well, here, this is the hospital.

Aye, look, I'm all right, I'm all right, I'm all right.

You're more than all right, Rab. You're magic.

Hey, is there anybody here? Schulp!

Where's Mrs Schulp?

Yes, can I help you?

Aye. Can you do something for my pal here?

Well, that depends. What's the matter with him?

LAUGHTER

What's the matter with him?

-He's got the flu.

-LAUGHTER

And then he could be in the psychiatrist's chair

being given a diploma that certifies that he's a psychopath.

So, you could just romp in the clover.

Being deranged is nothing to be proud of.

Aye, well, maybe not where you come fae, pal,

but see up our street? Christ, it's like a knighthood.

Wait till I tell her this, eh.

Hey, Mary. Get your arse in here a wee minute, hen.

-LAUGHTER

-Aye, Rab. What is it? Is that you?

That's me, hen. That is me.

It's official. That is me. Pure mental.

Pure mental. Oh, Rab, I'm that pleased for you.

LAUGHTER

I thought he was a glorious character

and by that point, we had names.

And eventually, I found out that Rab C Nesbitt

actually was that his grandfather was Rab A Nesbitt,

his father was Rab B Nesbitt and he was Rab C.

-You know what we're going to do?

-What, Rab?

A pair like you and I is gonnae get tanked up

and then we're gonnae stagger hame

and then you and me is gonnae have a barney.

-Oh!

-LAUGHTER

And then I'm gonnae tap you for a fiver,

you're gonnae say no

and then I'm gonnae take you up the outpatients department

to get stitched. LAUGHTER

What do you say to that, eh? Eh? Eh?

What can I say, Rab?

20 year married and you're still a romantic.

In Mary Doll, Rab had found his match.

Argh!

In reality, Gregor had also been pursuing the woman of his dreams.

A young actress he had met whilst working in the theatre.

Ah, the very first time I remember Gregor and Vicki

being in the same room together, so the first time they met, I think,

was at read-through of this play.

But at that stage, most of us were all single

and really what you're doing is reading it and thinking,

"She looks quite nice. Oh. Hmm."

And you're kind of showing off to...

The girls are all doing a bit...

It's all done as though nobody was bothering,

but there's that wonderful undercurrent

where everybody's going,

"Hm, I wonder if any joy could be had there?"

And I think Gregor's wee mind must have been racing like a stock car

when he saw Vicki.

Eyes like sapphires in the night.

Well, I thought they were rather nice.

And I thought, "Oh, hello. We're in trouble here."

It became clear that he was quite keen on me,

but I wasn't in that space at all.

I wasn't looking for a relationship

and I was quite happy being single and...

So, it was slightly...it was slightly awkward, I guess.

I was smitten.

He was absolutely lovesick. Oh, just ridiculous.

And he used to corner me and say, "What do you think?" and all that.

I told him, "I think you're punching above your weight,

"so I wouldnae bother."

Maybe I wore her down. You'd have to ask her about that.

He just didn't give up and I guess I finally...

I finally twigged that, you know, "You're very lucky, Vic,

"that this person is here for you cos he is."

I didn't think I was aiming high.

I think she was probably aiming a bit high.

He's a marvel.

Gregor and Vicki found happiness in family life

and went on to have three children.

Sadly, Cis, the woman who brought Gregor up

did not live long enough to see her grandchildren.

She died when Gregor was 30.

By now, Gregor was finally ready

to unlock the secrets of his birth mother.

Until Cis died, he didn't go looking for his birth parents

just because he didn't want to.

He didn't want to upset Cis cos he loved her so deeply.

He then felt released, I think, to go back and find out a bit more.

The next clue to Gregor's early childhood

lay with the one person who could actually remember their separation

following their birth mother's death.

The eldest of his two sisters, Ann.

Once she had died, I was staying with a lady, a friend

and of course, immediate reaction as well,

-"What about Maureen and Gregor?"

-Yeah.

"Well, they'll come back."

-Which never happened.

-No.

-And that was it.

I was never told where you had gone, from...

Wasn't it with...?

-You were never given any kind of explanation as to...?

-No.

-We were just gone. That was it.

-No. You were gone and that was it.

So, consequently, it wasn't just losing Mum.

I had lost you and Maureen.

And if I asked questions, "Oh, we don't talk about that."

And that was it. It was all brushed under the carpet.

After their birth mother's death, the children were split up.

Maureen and Gregor were sent to a children's home

to await adoption...

..whilst Ann was brought up by an aunt.

Gregor needed answers to many questions

if he was to make any sense of his past.

Who was his father?

And what was the full story of his real mother, Kit McKenzie?

Mama.

Now, that was the first picture you ever had of your mother.

I reckon Kit, your mother, in that picture is probably only...

-I don't know. Late teens.

-Looks older to me.

Don't forget that women in those days didn't dress like teenagers.

Now, this one,

it's only the second picture you'd ever seen of your mother.

Yeah.

And how...? Really, what did you feel when you saw that?

I've got to say it's me.

It's me. I mean, you know, isn't it?

That's definitely me, I think, by the look of it. Wouldn't you say?

Oh, totally. It's like you in factory uniform.

Yeah.

Now, then, there's mother looking very glam

in a very shiny sort of satin affair.

-At a work's dance.

-A work's dance.

I wonder what age she was then.

Had she had me by then?

Possibly, though I think she was ill.

-How would you know? There's no...

-Oh, hang on, there's a date.

Oh, there's a date. 1951.

-OK. So, that would...

-She's got Ann. No, she hasn't had Maureen either.

Maybe that was the night of the conception, then.

-Might be.

-You're so romantic.

-Yeah. Well, it might have been.

-Not.

In taking on the task of unravelling this complex family mystery,

journalist Melanie Reid faced a number of challenges of her own.

Not only would this be her first book,

but after a horse riding accident five years ago,

she now uses a wheelchair.

When I was writing the book, I got so lost in the story

that I forgot about my own condition.

For about six months, it was wonderful.

I just forgot about my problems, I was so lost in the story.

And that was...that was great. Yeah.

I think I realised very early on that his mother, Kit...

..was the absolute key to it

because she was the kind of mystery at the heart of it.

So, I really began, I suppose, by tracing her steps,

going back to where she was born, finding out about her father and...

I mean, her life was very tragic and that's how...

That was my sort of starting point.

-Come on, then. Come on.

-DOGS BARK

-Should I shut these doors or not?

-Yeah.

If you shut them, that would be great, thanks.

Gregor and Melanie set out on a series of road trips

as part of the process of writing the book.

It was him and me getting in the car together,

sort of Dastardly and Muttley and going off and...exploring.

-I shall get the door for you, madam.

-Thank you.

Have you ever been driven by a cripple before?

Have I ever been driven by a cripple?

Christ, we'll get shot for saying that.

Why? Why?

Well, it's all right if you say it, but not if I say it.

Yeah. Well, I said it.

The most obvious place to start was with Kit's family history

in her hometown of Menstrie.

-And you have got over the name of it.

-No.

Have you?

No. Menstrie. I mean...

You see, you know... They're lovely people in Menstrie

and I don't want to offend anybody, really,

but Menstrie, as a name,

it would not be my first choice, I'd have to say.

-But it doesn't mean that.

-No, it means...

-What is it?

It means the hill on the strath.

Yeah, well, why didn't they just call it Strath Hill or something?

Do you know what I mean? HE SIGHS

Menstrie, in central Scotland,

is one of many small industrial villages

at the foot of the Ochil Hills.

Gregor's birth grandfather, Matthew McKenzie,

worked here as a maintenance fitter in the Glenochil Distillery.

The distillery archive helped Melanie and Gregor

get a taste for Matthew's working life.

-So, this would have been taken in the 1920s.

-OK.

And this shows you just the scale of the distillery here.

It would have employed so many people that lived in the village,

if not most of the people that lived in the village.

Surrounded by whisky galore,

temptation was never far away for the workers.

They mentioned how they were smuggling the whiskey

out of the distillery in the nosebags of the horses.

And also attached...

They would have made copper containers

-that would have gone round their tummies...

-Body belts.

Exactly, body belts. ..that they would have filled.

-So, they were quite ingenious.

-They were ingenious.

They would have had dramming then anyway.

So, once a day, all of the staff would have had a dram.

-They would have got a nip.

-Really?

-Yeah.

That didn't stop until the 1970s.

For the distillery workers,

the local church played a central role in village life.

Gregor's birth mother's family were regular churchgoers.

We really are walking in their footsteps here.

-This was one of their real familiar places.

-Hm.

Gregor's grandfather, Matthew McKenzie,

was a pillar of the Menstrie Parish Church,

playing the organ here for 18 years.

HE PLAYS A HYMN

There you are. SHE APPLAUDS

-Hello, Grandpa.

-That was fantastic.

Matthew McKenzie, the grandfather Gregor never knew,

fell to his death from a ladder at work

just days before his daughter Kit's 21st birthday.

This is about the death of your grandfather.

"The news of his sudden death cast a shadow on every house

"and the congregation assembled in the church at his funeral

"on Saturday the 12th of March

"and we mourned the loss of a friend."

Matthew's death was one of many disasters Kit suffered.

The first had been the loss of her mother at birth

and there was yet more disappointment and heartache ahead.

Of the many tragedies in Kit's life,

yet another one was the way she was treated

by her first proper boyfriend...

..who was a farm worker.

And she'd been going out with him for two years.

And she became pregnant,

um, and obviously, they were expected to get married.

Well, she was expected to get married.

And when she was four months pregnant,

he bought a five pound ticket to Australia and emigrated

and was never heard of hide nor hair again.

Kit was left carrying an illegitimate baby,

having to bear the burden of shame in the community.

Kit chose the life of a single mother,

juggling jobs to make ends meet rather than give up her baby, Ann.

Six years later, she had Maureen

and 18 months after that, Gregor.

All three children were illegitimate.

You wouldnae feel very churchy

if, when you were walking down the street

with three children in tow,

most of the people who went to the church

were giving you filthy looks, would you?

Your oldest sister, Ann, was christened here,

even though your mother, by that time, was a fallen woman.

Your sister Maureen was...

She was christened here,

but she was christened in the vestry.

-Of course.

-Which...

-Out of sight.

Out of sight of the congregation.

-Indeed.

-Which is...

And then when number three came along, which I was, they'd say,

-"No, you're having a laugh."

-Things...

You were too far gone. You were lost.

Records show that Kit McKenzie, Gregor's birth mother,

lived with her three children in Glenochil Terrace,

a small row of houses close to the distillery.

Gregor's sister Ann hopes to prompt his memory

by taking him there,

although he was only a toddler at the time.

Can you remember anything about here?

I remember smell and I'll tell you what else.

I remember the hills.

-Do you see that V in the hill there, where the two hills...?

-Mm-hm.

There's a sort of gully there.

I remember that.

This is where the railway line was and then over there was a big gap

and that was our house and there was a washhouse there.

-Where the molasses tanks are?

-Where the molasses tanks are.

And, see, right in between the two, the houses were.

-They were smack bang there?

-Yes. Yeah.

What was it like inside?

I mean, I have no picture of it. I have no memory of it.

It was one room and we all slept in one room with one window.

-Is that right?

-Yes. I slept in bed with Mum.

You and Maureen - one at the bottom of the bed and one at the side.

This sounds positively Dickensian. Was it?

I mean, was it warm? Was it comfortable?

It was comfortable, it was cosy cos we always had a big fire

and we always had nice food.

It was nice. It was a happy home.

After Gregor's birth, their mother's health began to fail.

And the responsibility for the entire family

fell to the eight-year-old Ann.

You were looking after our mother?

I was looking after her cos she used to, with her bad heart,

she used to pass out and you had to just lift her head,

tap her face and give her a drink of water

and leave her quietly to come round again.

-No-one to help?

-No-one to help, no.

She was there for us all the time.

She loved us and she gave us a good home.

She was diagnosed with mitral stenosis.

The mitral valves of her heart were deteriorating.

And by the time she had Gregor, they were obviously failing badly.

So, it was an exquisitely sad story.

A woman dying so young and leaving three little children -

18 months, three and 10.

And they were all scattered to the...scattered to the three winds.

Kit's story was almost complete,

but there was still a mystery surrounding the identity

of Gregor's real father.

Gregor's career really took off in the late '80s

when Rab C Nesbitt was given his own BBC series.

This hugely popular sitcom centred around Rab

and his dysfunctional family and friends.

This is your room.

-Whoa!

-Oh, yes!

My favourite episode to this day is still the Spanish episode.

That joy.

I think them both jumping on the beds in the hotel room.

Spain.

I mean, who would have thought we'd live to see the day

when trash like us was buying stuff like flip-flops and insect repellent?

Aye, you're right, Rab.

Two weeks all to ourselves.

A once-in-a-lifetime chance to deepen our relationship,

to discover the hidden Rab and Mary Nesbitt.

Oh, come here.

LAUGHTER

Um, that's me ready, Rab.

Do you want to try some of that continental swally I've got?

LAUGHTER

We had great fun and I think the one that most people remember

-is when we went to Spain.

-Classic.

And we were on the beach,

12 o'clock at night for some strange reason.

Oh, yes!

-And I'd fancied...

-Mary Doll.

-..Mary Doll.

And I'd said to her, "Mary..."

You're a fine-looking woman, by the way.

And you're...

..a fine-looking man, Jamesie.

And then Rab was going, "Hmm."

So, he turns to Ella, right?

And he says, "Ella..."

I've never told you this, but...

..you're a hell of a good-looking woman,

Ella Cotter, by the way.

And I've never told you this...

..Rab Nesbitt.

See you...

..you're an ugly-looking bastard.

"And if you don't take your paws off me..."

I'll skewer your tackle with my manicure set.

-And he went...

-Oh, I just loved it. I just loved it.

I'll tell you something, I'm glad I'm miserable.

I am glad I'm miserable.

Life's no' going to buy off Rab C Nesbitt

with a birthday song and a dose of the skitters.

LAUGHTER I will walk alone.

I will walk alone, there you are.

Universe said it. Universe. Harmony.

Probably just about everybody's favourite moment in Nesbitt

was when he's philosophising and he comes across the Spanish Nesbitt.

Nobody knows what I'm talking about.

DISTANT VOICE SHOUTS IN SPANISH

HE RANTS IN SPANISH

LAUGHTER

Bandy! Bandy!

Me bandy. Bandy, yeah. Bandage!

HE SPEAKS SPANISH

You tell the bastard.

You tell the bastard. LAUGHTER

HE CONTINUES SPEAKING SPANISH

HE RANTS INCOHERENTLY

And that's just such a wonderful moment,

where Rab realises that there's somebody else in the world

just as mad as he is.

He's not alone.

See?

My God.

There's nothing that destroys your faith more

in human nature than meeting some poor bastard

that's just as mad as yourself, you know?

LAUGHTER

I think making it look as natural as he did, and does,

is a skill that is really undervalued.

And the amount of work that was...

I mean, I was able to come in and do scenes

and I would have days off.

Gregor was there constantly.

The commitment he had and the discipline he had

to be filming six episodes

where you are literally in every day on 12-hour days

and where it all rests on your performance.

As Rab C Nesbitt became a household name,

the pressure began to mount on Gregor.

As he became more recognised,

it kind of made him withdraw a little bit, retreat,

and not go out so much and not be as sociable

because it was quite overwhelming sometimes when you were out.

To them, it was Rab

and Gregor's, like, all dressed and looking his best...

..and he'd bought a pie and a bridie, I think,

and as we're walking by, there's a guy shouting,

"Oh, Rab. Is that you got a pie there, Rab?

"You greedy bastard, Rab."

And poor Gregor's just trying to eat a pie.

STRONG GLASWEGIAN ACCENT I wish you'd go and fuck yoursel'.

You're giving the place a fucking bad name!

And I thought,

"I think the irony of that remark's rather lost on you, sir."

It becomes, as an actor, it becomes like a straitjacket.

A gold-lined straitjacket, but people think that's who you are.

But the fact that Gregor is best known as Rab C

has not stopped directors casting him in high-profile parts.

What...do you want?

Please, sir, I want some more.

What?

What did you say?

I said...

..please, sir, I want some more.

He's even grappled with Shakespeare

opposite Hollywood A-lister Al Pacino.

How now, Shylock.

What news amongst the merchants?

You knew of my daughter's flight.

None so well...

None so well as you.

Well, this is a surprise.

Yeah.

Ten minutes at Elton John's, you're as gay as a maypole?

No. Look, I'm serious here.

I left Elton's, where there were a hefty number of half-naked chicks

with their mouths open, in order to hang out with you

at Christmas.

Well, Bill...

It's a terrible, terrible mistake, Chubs.

But you turn out to be the fucking love of my life.

Over the years, Gregor had collected clues about his birth father,

but it was only when he started working with Melanie

that they were able to fill in some of the crucial gaps.

It was more of a sort of detective thing.

It was more, "Oh, I wonder what happened to him

"and I wonder what he did do and where he lived

"and what his family were like and, you know...

"..what about...? Who would my grandfather have been, then?"

Things that normal people just take for granted.

They had a name, one that Gregor discovered

while searching through his adoption papers,

William B Kerr.

There was a handwritten letter on Basildon Bond

saying, you know, "I, William B Kerr,

"relinquish all rights..."

And saying it's OK for these children to be adopted.

So, that was absolute confirmation that he was indeed...

..the man.

This is your father as a very proud young excise man...

..in the 1920s.

And this is him smoking a pipe, wearing a bow tie...

-With a dug.

-With a dug. Looking very sort of...

Pleased with himself.

Yeah. Well, an aspiring young man.

An aspiring young man.

And that's what he did.

He's well-educated and he spent his life aspiring for good things.

Hmm.

But the mystery remained -

how did William Kerr meet Gregor's mother, Kit?

One clue was that, as an excise officer,

part of William's job over the years included regular visits

to check the books at the Glenochil Distillery.

In a flash, the years have passed and here he is.

Looking rather splendid in a tail coat.

William Kerr was 61 when Gregor was born,

30 years Kit's senior.

He lived in a nearby suburb.

He was a freemason, a county councillor...

..and a married man.

He had to make sure that everybody else in society

was good and proper and right and then when he was in his...

Coming up to retirement, it's like he kind of said...

Sod it.

I'm going to go for it.

-"Maybe I want to live for a bit."

-Yeah.

-And he broke out of this...

..straitjacket of a life that he'd lived in.

This was when your half-brother got married in 1955.

Your father and his wife. His long-suffering wife.

We never talk about her, but she looks a lovely wee woman.

-Doesn't she?

-She looks like a granny.

And he's got a young mistress and two illegitimate babies

in a second family.

You were back home in Menstrie

and he was at a very grand wedding in Knightsbridge.

He looks nothing like me.

Do you think that looks anything like me?

There's a twinkle in his eye.

Well, we've known that for quite some time, haven't we?

We've worked that one out. There's a lot of twinkles in his eye.

Maybe it was the love affair to rival all love affairs.

Maybe that's what it was.

Maybe he was the kindest man in the west of Scotland.

But maybe he wasn't.

My personal opinion is that there was a romance,

that there was a genuine love affair,

that it wasn't just...

..a matter of cheap sex.

Cos when William Kerr had died, they found in his wallet a poem

and it was a very old love song called Awearyin' For You

and it had been handwritten.

It was about, you know, "Evening comes, I miss you more.

"I yearn for the sound of the door latch going

"but you've gone."

And it was a poem about lost love.

My belief, and it's what Gregor, I know, would love to believe,

is that...you know, he adored Kit.

He adored this woman that he risked everything for and he...

When she died, he was distraught.

And he went to his grave still with strong affections for her.

# Just wearyin' for you

# All the time of feeling blue

# Wishing for you

# Wondering when you'll be coming home again

# Restless don't know... #

Gregor and Vicki now spend much of their time in France.

They have here some of Gregor's father's prized possessions.

These were given to Gregor by the Kerrs,

who warmly accepted him and his sister Maureen

into their family.

With the final pieces of the puzzle in place,

Melanie accepts that there are certain parts of Gregor's life story

she will never have the answers to.

If I could meet Kit,

I would love to ask her how much she loved Gregor's father.

And I'd love to be able to tell her how successful and brave

and fantastic all her children have been.

And that one of them's, you know, enormously famous.

It would... You know, it would be nice if she could know that...

..in a different kind of...

In a different kind of world.

SHE SPEAKS FRENCH

-That's quite a small bunch.

-We'll have another one then.

-Encore.

S'il vous plait.

We always liked the idea of moving to France.

He doesn't speak much French,

but in the markets, he has no trouble explaining what he wants.

-Encore.

-He mimes or acts...

-Encore.

-..what it is that he's feeling or wanting or...

He's terrific, actually, and, yeah, they love it.

THEY SPEAK FRENCH

Even here, Gregor can never fully escape his past.

Can I have a photo of you, please?

You can have a photo any time you like with me.

I know. It's Rab C Nesbitt!

Of course you can. Come round the front.

Gregor's recent journey through his family history

has given him food for thought.

Smile. OK, perfect.

It's nice to just now and again blow a trumpet

for the ordinary people in this story.

The ordinary people, like my mother,

who were ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.

You know, the people who you would pass in the street

and not give a second glance to, but these are the people.

If some boy, some girl,

who maybe hasn't had the best start in life

happens to think, "He's done all right.

"Look, come on. If he can do it, so can I."

That would be a good thing.