No Chewin' the Fat Hogmanay special! Hemphill and Kiernan split up!

by nickyf1 Thu 24 Dec 2009 - 22:16

From the Evening Times:

''SCOTLAND'S favourite comedy duo, Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, has split up according to reports today.

The
Glasgow-based pair, who are behind hit TV shows Still Game and Chewin'
The Fat, are said to have gone their separate ways after a boardroom
bust up.

The news, which has stunned fans, comes less than two
weeks after the Evening Times revealed the pair were absent from BBC's
winter schedule - with insiders hinting the writing and acting
partnership was in trouble.

It is believed the shock split came
after Paul Riley, co-director of the duo's production company but best
known as Winston in Still Game, returned from summer holiday and
announced he was quitting to go it alone.

It is believed Riley,
writer of park-based sitcom Dear green Place, which returns to our
screens next month, wanted more control over the future of the company.

According
to insiders, 39-year-old Hemphill, who is married to Balamory star
Julie Wilson Nimmo, then said he didn't want a boardroom battle - and
also walked away.

The company, F n' G, is now in the hands of Ford Kiernan, 46, who is expected to take it in a new direction.

A
source close to the duo was reported today as saying: "There has been
no major fall-out as such between Ford and Greg. But Greg just wasn't
interested in the day to day running of the business side of things.

"He likes writing and performing. The boardroom stuff just got to him."

As
reported by the Evening Times, BBC Scotland bosses were expected to
unveil two shows written by the pair as the centrepiece of their
festive schedule.

However, the Chewin' the Fat special - a
favourite with Hogmanay viewers - and a new sitcom about two
Glaswegians in space were not part of the line-up.

Neither Hemphill nor Kiernan were available for comment."

This is the TV event of the year here in Scotland, its now gone Sad