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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
Entertainment
Abbie Meehan

Scottish comedy Absolutely stars now from Saturday Night Live to Scots Squad

Before the likes of Chewin’ The Fat, Still Game and The Karen Dunbar Show, Scotland birthed the 1980s comedy show Absolutely.

With up-and-coming stars from our bonnie wee nation and beyond, Absolutely ran from 1989 till 1993 on Channel 4.

Now, almost 30 years on from its final episode, what have the stars of Absolutely been up to?

READ MORE - Trainspotting lesser-known stars now from Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings

Read on below to find out more.

Moray Hunter - Calum Gilhooley and various others

Moray was born in Hawick and contributed to many characters on Absolutely, such as boring bonehead Calum, and one half of iconic duo George and Donald McDiarmid.

The two characters would go on to get their own sit-com Mr Don & Mr George, that Moray also appeared in alongside co-star Jack Docherty.

Moray Hunter (Twitter)

Moray also provided the voice for a shadow puppet in one of Aardman Animations' short films, Humdrum.

Moray also wrote various different shows, such as The Lenny Henry Show, Spitting Image and The Clan.

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Jack Docherty - McGlashan and various others

Jack was one half of iconic duo George and Donald McDiarmid in Absolutely, and played various other characters such as Scottish nationalist McGlashan.

He was also part of The Nice Family, playing the dad in a parody of a straight-laced middle-class family, and prejudiced couple Peter and Jennifer Wells.

In 1997, he was part of the launch of Channel 5 becoming Britain's first five nights a week chat show host on The Jack Docherty Show.

Jack Docherty (BBC)

The show also featured some of the first television work of writers Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, and writer/performers David Mitchell and Robert Webb.

Not The Jack Docherty Show, broadcast when Docherty was on holiday, featured guest hosts including Phill Jupitus, Rich Hall, Melinda Messenger and, most notably, Graham Norton.

More recently, Jack appeared as Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson in BBC Scotland's comedy Scot Squad.

Morwenna Banks - Gwynedd and others

One of the only English stars on the show, Morwenna played one half of a dysfunctional Welsh married couple, Denzil and Gwynedd.

She also played the role of The Little Girl, a ditzy character who enthusiastically describe her understanding of a topic such as death, dentists or the government in an overexcited bluster.

Morwenna Banks. (YouTube)

The sketches often ended with her exclaiming, "It is, it's true!" Morwenna would later perform this character once after she was hired on Saturday Night Live.

Morwenna also went on to voice Mummy Pig, Gazelle and Dr Hamster in popular kids TV programme, Peppa Pig.

Most recently in 2019, she provided the voice of Mrs Brown in The Adventures of Paddington which began airing on Children 4 Jr and Nick Jr. in early 2020.

Peter Baikie - Musical Section and others

Edinburgh-born Peter played a whole host of roles on Absolutely, such as Mr Muzak, part of the Stoneybridge Town Hall and First Twin in The Nice Family.

He has also won 4 Welsh BAFTAS as the producer of ‘Barry Welsh is Coming’ and ‘Hugh Pugh’s History of Wales’ for ITV Wales. He also produced ‘Pub Quiz’, ‘The Morwenna Banks show’ and numerous editions of ‘The Jack Docherty show’ for Channel 5.

Peter Baikie. (Absolutely Productions)

He co-wrote and co-presented the world’s first comedy nature series ‘SquawkieTalkie’ in 1995 and was co-host of ‘Saturday Night Jack’ for Radio 2 in 2006.

Peter is also a director of Absolutely Productions, co-founded by Jack Docherty and Moray Hunter.

He has also composed several productions of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, last working on it in 2021.

John Sparkes - Frank Hovis and others

The only other non-Scot member of the cast, Welsh man John played club host Frank Hovis, Welsh husband Denzil and monologue man Gwyn.

John is also the narrator of children’s show Peppa Pig, and has appeared in other kids classics, such as Fireman Sam, Shaun the Sheep and Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom.

John Sparkes. (BBC)

As well as playing hapless host of a chat show Barry Welsh in hit Welsh show Barry Welsh is Coming, Sparkes also plays other characters within the programme, such as pub singer Gwyn, old Mr. Ffff and Fishguard news reporter Hugh Pugh.

Although the series ended in 2004, it returned in 2007 for a series of one-off specials.

Throughout its original run, the series also won four BAFTA Cymru awards for Best Light Entertainment.

Absolutely was a cult phenomenon in Scotland, and brought the ‘absolute’ best of the nation’s comedy to light, never to be forgotten.

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