Rab C. Nesbitt facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rab C. Nesbitt
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Ian Pattison
Written by	Ian Pattison
Directed by	Colin Gilbert
Starring	Gregor Fisher, Elaine C. Smith, Tony Roper, Barbara Rafferty, Andrew Fairlie, Brian Pettifer, Iain McColl, Eric Cullen, Iain Robertson
Theme music composer	David McNiven
Opening theme	Theme from Rab C. Nesbitt
Ending theme	Theme from Rab C. Nesbitt
Country of origin	Scotland, United Kingdom
Original language(s)	Glaswegian Scots
No. of series	10
No. of episodes	67 (including 6 specials) (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Colin Gilbert
Production location(s)	Govan, Glasgow
Running time	30-50 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC1 (1988), BBC2 (1990-2014)
Original release	22 December 1988 (1988-12-22) – 18 June 1999 (1999-06-18)

Rab C. Nesbitt is a Scottish comedy series which began in 1988. Produced by BBC Scotland, it stars Gregor Fisher as an Glaswegian who seeks unemployment as a lifestyle choice.

Background

The pilot episode, made for BBC Scotland in 1988, was a Christmas special entitled Rab C Nesbitt's Seasonal Greet, which was broadcast on 22 December 1988 and then repeated on the network the following year. The first series began on 27 September 1990 and continued for seven more, ending on 18 June 1999.

The show returned for a one-off special on 23 December 2008.

The series has featured guest appearances from the likes of Norman Lovett, Peter Mullan, Rikki Fulton, Mary Lee, Anita Dobson, Timothy Spall, Stanley Baxter, Kevin McNally, Clive Russell, Jerry Sadowitz, Viv Lumsden, Sylvester McCoy, Russell Hunter, Peter Capaldi and the unknowns David Tennant, Ashley Jensen, Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill, Karen Dunbar, Jane McCarry and Paul Riley. Series 10 episode 2 notably featured an appearance by Scottish singer Susan Boyle who was the runner-up on Britain's Got Talent in 2009. The series was taken live on tour in 1991, known as Rab C. Nesbitt: In the Flesh, thus meaning that no new series was broadcast that year. A live recording of the tour was released on VHS in 1992 as Rab C. Nesbitt: Live. Two script books accompanying the series have also been released, alongside Rab's autobiography, a novel entitled A Stranger Here Myself.

In October 2016, it was announced that plans were in place for Rab C. Nesbitt to return with a series of live shows at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, following in the footsteps of Still Game.

Awards

Ratings

(*) Asterisk indicates overnight figure.

Home releases

The first five series were initially released on VHS in the 1990s, with each series being split into two parts, with three episodes on each video. "Seasonal Greet" and "Fitba" were each released on separate VHS volumes. A "best of" compilation was also released on VHS. DVD releases of the series began in July 2004, with John Williams productions issuing series one through five on DVD, with "Seasonal Greet" available on a separate DVD volume, and "Fitba" and "Home" being released together on a separate DVD volume. A complete box set of series one through five was later released, including "Fitba" and "Home" but omitting "Seasonal Greet". 2|Entertain then purchased the rights to the series, releasing series six through eight on separate DVD volumes, and all together as one DVD box set, on 15 October 2007. 2|Entertain released "Clean" on DVD three days after its initial airing on TV. In 2009, a complete box set of series one through eight and all subsequent specials was released, making "More" available on DVD for the first time ever. DVDs of series nine and ten were subsequently issued in 2010 and 2011 respectively, leaving the 2014 special the only episode yet to be released on DVD.

Influence

Johnny Depp based his Glaswegian accent for the role of Tarrant Hightopp, The Mad Hatter in the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, on Rab C Nesbitt's.