Says Still Game star Greg Hemphill

Greg Hemphill has complained that his new sitcom won’t be hitting our screens because it was kyboshed by internal BBC politics.

The Still Game star made a pilot for BBC Scotland called Blue Haven, about a cursed sea creature that arrives in small Scottish village.

But although bosses in Glasgow liked the show, Hemphill says it needed the backing of executives in London – and they said ‘no’.

He tweeted yesterday: ‘So BBC Scotland want to make my sitcom, but BBC Network aren't interested. So it doesn't get made. Which is a shame cause it's really good.’

‘BBC Scotland have had it three years, want to make series, Network won't support it... and they they need network support.’

However Hemphill said he might upload the pilot to the internet ‘if it doesn't get me in too much trouble’.

Kick-Ass magazine writer Mark Millar gave his backing to the comedian, tweeting of the BBC’s decision: ‘That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. That pilot was brilliant. Can't it just get made up here? The fact that London said no to this and yes to BBC3's VERY EXISTENCE makes me sick to my stomach.’

In response, Hemphill tweeted: ‘Different world down there, fella! Unbelievable.’

But he said that although the decisions was a blow that left him ‘flat out on [the] canvas’, he added: ‘I can lay there or get back up! Time for something different.’

BBC Scotland confirmed there are no plans to make a series.

Hemphill will be at the Edinburgh Fringe with the comic play An Appointment With The Wicker Man, about an am-dram group staging a production of the cult horror film.

Published: 6 Jul 2012