Commander Gary is tanked up and ready to roll ahead of return to TV screens

GREG McHugh is set to roll his tank back on to our TV screens.

The star of the hit comedy Gary: Tank Commander says the character, who last made an appearance in sell-out stage shows at the SSE Hydro, Glasgow, is ready for a small-screen comeback.

The next series of Still Game will be the last, with no plans for further escapades for Jack and Victor. Speaking to The Sunday Post, Greg joked that his comedy creation could fill the gap.

“If I know Still Game’s off the scene I’ll have to do something,” said Greg, 38. “Never say never – in fact, hopefully I’ll be able to announce something in the next couple of months. I’m still waiting for it to be confirmed but I think Gary will make another appearance.

“He’s a character I love playing. He’s opened a lot of doors for me and the next thing might be quite different.”

Greg was so closely associated with the role that it impacted his career.

“There’s no denying that after doing three series of Gary in Scotland I did struggle to be seen as a drama actor. I made the decision to get out of that for a while and concentrate on drama.”

Greg is one of the stars of Sky One’s new series A Discovery Of Witches, which also features Matthew Goode of Downton Abbey.

It’s adapted from the bestselling All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness and is a modern-day love story set in a world where witches, vampires and daemons secretly live alongside humans.

“It looks stunning and with Netflix and Amazon around, Sky understands that people expect to see the cinema on their TVs,” said Greg, who plays daemon Hamish.

“A Discovery Of Witches really is phenomenal and the scale and the ambition was what first attracted me. It addresses a lot of relevant issues with society – when you meet someone in the street, you don’t really know their struggles.”

Greg spoke out last year at the Scottish Parliament’s Festival of Politics about anxiety he suffered following a serious injury in the run-up to the SSE Hydro shows.

“A lot had happened in the year leading up to my hitting the wall,” said Gary. “Since then I’ve been working constantly, but I’ve not reached the same level of anxiety and stress.

“The more people I speak to, the more people I know that this happens to.

“I did get back to a couple of those who got in touch with me, saying that if they were struggling they should go and speak to someone, which is what I did,” he said.

Greg says he’s not sure yet about a potential second series of A Discovery Of Witches, but it’s hoped the other books will also be filmed. As well as Gary: Tank Commander he may get to reprise his role in The A Word, starring fellow Scot Morven Christie.

Greg said: “There is talk of another one but the BBC haven’t announced that.”

A Discovery of Witches starts on Sky One and NOW TV on September 14 at 9pm.