Sunday Mail feature 17 July 2005
WINSTON: I' M NOW A CRAIGLANG LEG-END
Still Game's star Paul goes out on a limb at his pal Tam's wedding as Greg and Ford make him legless
STILL Game star Paul Riley is used to being the butt of Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill's jokes.
The actor - who puts on a flat cap and 30 years to play Craiglang grump Winston - is well used to being handed a script which calls on him to tell the world he is a 'greedy fat b ****** .'
But even he was taken aback when Ford and Greg told him they were making him legless in the much-anticipated fourth series of the hit BBC1 comedy show.
He said: 'They just came in the pub one night and said, 'How do you feel about losing a leg?' I said, 'What?' And they told me, 'We're going to cut off one of Winston's legs'.
'I could see the comic potential but I told them straight away I wasn't going down the hangman's route of losing all my bits and ending up just a head by the seventh series.
'And I didn't want to get into the situation where they just had me sitting at the bar because I can't walk.
'But they said they would keep it down to a limp and, in fact, I break into a sprint at one point in this series and I even end up dancing. They do enjoy putting me in ridiculous situations. It's fine but sometimes they will do things to get to me. Like when Winston calls himself fat. I've got a line when I say, 'I'm a greedy b ****** ' . They know it annoys the hell out of me to say that.
'What that means is they've been writing the script, it's got to 4pm and they are a bit bored - so let's get Winston to call himself a fat b ****** .'
Paul wed Yvonne Elliott, 28, in a surprise wedding in Las Vegas, in March.
And the new series - which begins on Friday - will see Winston get caught on the hop when he is best man at pal Tam's (Mark Cox) marriage to girlfriend Frances (Kate Donnelly).
And it's not such a happy day for Winston in the first episode, as we see him being fitted for a prosthetic leg, after having his own amputated due to smoking.
He starts off in an NHS hospital with a home-made peg leg, made of a pole and a block of wood, taking abuse from a ned.
Things don't get any better when he is fitted with a prosthetic leg built for a lady, complete with painted toenails - although he does manage to use it as a weapon.
Winston's new appendage hasn't been easy to get used to for Paul, 35.
He said: 'My limp is not method. I'm not Dustin Hoffman, so I didn't put a stone in my shoe or anything, although maybe I should have.
'There were a couple of times in the first week or so when I forgot to limp so we had to go back and do some scenes again.
'But after the first episode it really is just a limp, which was a relief. It takes about an hour to get ready already with wig and latex on the face and hands. That's bad enough. I'm glad I didn't have to spend too much time having my leg strapped up my backside.'
The new series boasts all the usual characters including Navid (Sanjeev Kholi) and Isa (Jane McCarry).
But there are also guest roles for Harry Potter star Robbie Coltrane, although again - thanks to Ford and Greg - Paul all but missed out on working with him.
He said: 'They took great pleasure in telling me, 'Robbie Coltrane is coming and you're not doing anything with him.' I was the other storyline.
'So they're all coming back saying, 'Oh, you should have seen the big man today, he was great'. Thanks very much! They're a pair of b ******* .'
Despite the tongue-in-cheek abuse, Paul is a huge fan of Ford and Greg. He said: 'They remind me of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. They have a chemistry which is there for everyone to see. It crackles on screen.
'They have a real talent. When you look at the bulk of material they've done there's no way you can say anybody else could have done it.'
The new series is finally going to be seen south of the Border. The decision is not before time for a series which has consistently gathered half the population of Scotland round the TV set.
The show has also proved a winner with the Hollywood elite.
Scots star Billy Boyd introduced the show to his Lord of the Rings co-stars Elijah Wood and Sean Aston to great acclaim, while former Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy became the show's No.1 fan, threatening to chain himself outside the BBC to get it shown in England.
Paul said: 'Everybody who sees it, from Sylvester McCoy to Elijah Wood, loves it.
'One of the things with going on the network on season four is you've just got to say, 'Look, you've missed the boat. We're away with this. Either buy the DVDs and catch up - or complain'.
'Why should Ford and Greg make any concessions?'
Paul is waiting for the nod to start filming the Still Game Christmas special. In the meantime, he's enjoying married life.
But there may be bad news ahead for his other half. While Ford and Greg based characters Jack and Victor on relatives, the only template for Winston is... himself.
Paul said: 'Unfortunately for my wife, I think it's just me when I'm an old man
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