Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ross King: Meet Mary, the new queen of Scots… the songsmith Glasgow is just Wild about

© John Photography/Shutterstock Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen at the Emmys
Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen at the Emmys

With its scenes of brutality, assassinations and gang violence, you wouldn’t think being on the set of The Irishman was a great laugh.

Surprisingly, though, Robert De Niro said that’s just what it was. Last week, Martin Scorsese’s latest crime epic was nominated for a raft of awards, including at the Oscars.

I chatted to Robert and got the chance to ask him what it was like filming the true story of a mob hitman in the Netflix movie.

“It was good and productive,” he said. “I hesitate to call it fun – it depends what you call fun – but it was fun.

“It was a great time working on it with Al (Pacino), Joe (Pesci) and Marty (Scorsese) directing us.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

De Niro made the Oscars longlist for Best Actor – but didn’t quite make the shortlist.

It was a similar story for Mary Steenburgen. She penned the song Glasgow (No Place Like Home) which featured in the Scotland-set musical drama Wild Rose which just missed out on a Best Original Song nomination last week.

The track was written by Mary, whose partner is Ted Danson, star of Cheers and The Good Place.

I chatted to the couple last week, and asked them to guess where I’m from…

“Glasgow!” said Mary correctly. “Well, I’ve written you a song…”

Mary revealed she’d been flooded with messages of support on social media from kindhearted Glaswegians.

“When Wild Rose was shooting and they were playing my song, I woke up to hundreds of people saying they were in the scene and they listened to it over and over and they loved the song,” she said.

“People have been very lovely about it there.

“It was written with so much love for that amazing city. But also for those amazing actors, Julie Walters and Jessie Buckley.

“Jessie is an honour to write music for. It’s a stunning voice.”

I wanted to know if Ted got in on the musical action like Mary.

“Not even an ounce,” said Ted after a pause. “I couldn’t find a word to explain how much I don’t sing. But I marvel over what Mary does.”

“Not even in the shower, I can testify,” added Mary.

You’d think Ted would have given the iconic theme from Cheers a bit of an airing once in a while.

I also chatted to my old pal Dexter Fletcher, too.

He’s a star behind the camera now thanks to movies like Bohemian Rhapsody – which he stepped in to help direct – and Rocketman, the Elton John biopic which is nominated at the Oscars in the best original song category.

But I’m not sure Dexter is too keen on ever appearing in front of the lens again.

“There’s so much to do in directing,” he told me. “Adding that pressure on? I’d crumble. I’d fold like a house of cards!”

More on awards season next week!