Jack and Victor playing the Hydro? It’s a dream…a really, really bad dream

Still Game stars Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill have confessed to having anxiety dreams over their forthcoming farewell stageshow.

The duo will bring the curtain down on their 20-year association with the Craiglang characters in a final farewell, which opens in Glasgow this week.

But they admitted the expectation levels around their final bow have given them the fear – tormenting them even when they are asleep.

Hemphill said: “I don’t dream about Jack and Victor, but I do dream about being on stage at the Hydro with only 50 people in the audience, and half of them getting up to leave. I also have dreams about not being able to see the crowd because there are pillars blocking my view of them.

“The dreams are always about things going wrong rather than things going right.”

Kiernan added: “I dream about empty theatres, and cast members telling me they’ve not read the script 10 minutes before they’re due on stage, and I’m telling them to just have a quick look at it and go on. All performers get this stuff – it’s always either that the theatre is empty or the place is full and folk don’t know their lines. It’s an awful thing.”

The pair revealed last month their return to the SSE Hydro for their third arena show will see them revive some favourite sketch characters from Chewin’ The Fat, the programme which led to Still Game.

The final farewell opens on Friday and runs until October 13.

The creators and stars of the show say the story picks up from where the ninth series finished this year – with Jack and Victor disappearing into the mist around Loch Lomond.

“That’s where the fun starts,” said Kiernan. “We want this to feel like a party, not folk sitting with their hankies out.

“The cast aren’t disappointed. They might be sad, but everyone has known this was coming to an end for a while. Nobody wants to outstay their welcome.”