Gregor Fisher

Gregor Fisher
Born	(1953-12-22) 22 December 1953 Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Alma mater	Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian
Years active	1977–present
Spouse	Victoria Burton
Children	3

Gregor Fisher (born 22 December 1953) is a Scottish comedian and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the comedy series Rab C. Nesbitt, a role he has played since the show's first episode in 1988. He has also had roles in films such as Without a Clue (1988), Love Actually (2003), The Merchant of Venice (2004) and Whisky Galore! (2016).

Early life

Fisher was born in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, and following the death of his mother was brought up in Edinburgh, Langholm, and Neilston and attended Barrhead High School. He attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

Career

Early work

Fisher worked with Scottish comedian Rikki Fulton on his hit sketch series Scotch and Wry (whose broadcast was mainly restricted to BBC One Scotland). Another Scottish comedian he worked with was Hector Nicol, in the BBC drama Just a Boys' Game (1979).

Later, he appeared in Michael Radford's 1984 film Nineteen Eighty-Four as Winston Smith's neighbour Parsons. In 1988, he had a leading role in Silent Mouse, a dramatised television documentary telling the story of the creation of the Christmas carol Silent Night. In the same year he had a cameo (as a Victorian policeman) in the Michael Caine/Ben Kingsley vehicle, Without a Clue.

Rab C. Nesbitt

Fisher is best known for his portrayal of the main character of the sitcom Rab C. Nesbitt, this itself was a spin-off from the BBC2 sketch comedy Naked Video, where the Nesbitt character originated, along with The Baldy Man who also obtained his own eponymous spin-off series, and is particularly associated with two Hamlet adverts involving photography, the first where he cannot get a satisfactory passport photo from a photobooth and lights up a cigar to calm himself down; the second where he cannot get a satisfactory family portrait and lights up a cigar to calm himself down. Johnny Depp based his Glaswegian accent for the role of Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter in the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, on that used by Fisher’s Rab C. Nesbitt character.

In 1994–1995, he played the title role in the BBC series The Tales of Para Handy, in which he was reunited with Rikki Fulton. Fisher had also appeared in the 1999 sitcom Brotherly Love and in the 2002 sitcom Snoddy. He also appeared with Iain Glenn in the BBC Masterpiece theatre version of Kidnapped.

Love Actually

Fisher appeared in the 2000 BBC adaptation of Gormenghast. Fisher starred as a main character D.S. Doug Duvall in the drama Missing, made by SMG Productions in 2006, the two-part thriller was not broadcast on STV until November 2008. In November 2006, he starred as Grandpa Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in a three-month run of the show in Edinburgh. Most recently he has starred in the BBC's adaption of Oliver Twist, in the role of Mr Bumble.

In 2003, he appeared in the romantic comedy film Love Actually, where he played the role of the manager to fading music star, Billy Mack (Bill Nighy). In 2004, he played the role of Solanio in the Michael Radford film, The Merchant of Venice. In an interview in The Metro on 20 February 2008 he stated that he is no longer recognised as Rab C. Nesbitt, and rather is more likely to be stopped by fans for his recent role as Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist. Empty, a comedy series starring Fisher, began on BBC2 on 28 February 2008.

Rab C. Nesbitt renewal

On BBC2, on 23 December 2008, he reprised his role as Rab C Nesbitt in a Christmas special. Fisher's autobiography, The Boy from Nowhere, was published in 2015. To coincide with the publication, BBC One Scotland broadcast a documentary, In Search of Gregor Fisher, which followed Fisher and ghostwriter Melanie Reid during part of their research for the book.

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theatre Company	Director	Notes
1982	Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaites	Falsehood	Scottish Theatre Company	Tom Fleming	play by Sir David Lyndsey, adapted by Robert Kemp

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Another Time, Another Place	Beel
1984	Nineteen Eighty-Four	Parsons	Sometimes titled as 1984
1985	The Girl in the Picture	Bill
1987	White Mischief	McPherson
1988	To Kill a Priest
	Without a Clue	Bobby at Warehouse
2003	Love Actually	Joe
2004	The Merchant of Venice	Solanio
2005	Lassie	Mapes
2010	Wild Target	Mike
2016	Whisky Galore!	Macroon
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Rob Roy	Dick	Episodes: series 1.1 & 1.2
1978	The Tomorrow People	Uncredited Highlander	Episode: 7.2 "The Fighting Spirit"
1978–1979	Play for Today	Georgie/Tanza	Episodes: "Donal and Sally", "Just a Boys' Game"
1980	Square Mile of Murder	Tom Connell	Episode: "The Human Crocodile"
1978–1980	Scotch & Wry	Various Roles	Episodes: series 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 & 31 December 1980 episode
1982	Crown Court	Eric Mullins	Episode: "Too Bad for Tobias: Part 1"
1982–1984	Foxy Lady	Hector Ross	Series 1 & 2: 12 episodes, lead role
1986	Scotch & Wry	Various Roles	Video compilation
	Boon	Tom McGeary	Episode: "Fools Rush In"
	Naked Video	Various Roles	Series 1: 6 episodes, lead role (season 1)
	Blood Red Roses	Alex McGuigan	3 episodes
1987	Double Scotch & Wry	Various Roles	Video compilation
	Dramarama	Albert Pickard	Episode: "Stan's First Night"
1990	Silent Mouse	Franz Gruber	Television film
	Triple Scotch & Wry	Various Roles	Video compilation
	Chancer	Norman Attwood	Episodes: "Killing Floor", "Hazard"
1994	A Christmas Night with the Stars	Rab C. Nesbitt	Episode: 25 December 1994
1994–1995	The Tales of Para Handy	Para Handy	9 episodes, lead role
1995	Saturday Disney		Episode: 25 March 1995
	Kidnapped	Gahlsan	Television film
1995–1997	The Baldy Man	Baldy	2 series: 13 episodes, lead role
1999	Brotherly Love	Hector Robertson	Series 1: 6 episodes, lead role
2000	Gormenghast	The Fly	Episode: series 1.3
	The Railway Children	Perks	Television film
2001	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Mr. Squeers	Television film
2002	Snoddy	Snoddy	Lead role
2005	Kidnapped	James Stewart of the Glen	Television film
2006	Missing	D.S. Doug Duvall	2 episodes
2007	Oliver Twist	Mr. Bumble	Mini-series
2008	Empty	Jacky Allen	Series 1: 6 episodes, lead role
2012	Love Life	Will	3 episodes
1988–1999; 2008–2014	Rab C. Nesbitt	Rab C. Nesbitt	65 episodes: 10 series & 2014 New Year Special "Hoodie", lead role
2018	The ABC Murders	Dexter Dooley	Episode 2
2021	The Cockfields	Ray	Series 2
2024	Only Child	Ken	Comedy series

External links

• Overview of Gregor Fisher
• Gregor Fisher at IMDb
• Gregor Fisher at British Comedy Guide