STILL Game star Greg Hemphill has revealed that pal and co-creator Ford Kiernan thought Olympic medallist Fatima Whitbread had passed away – thanks to an almost decade-long lie.
Hemphill was appearing on the Some Laugh podcast and shared an anecdote about how Paul Riley, who played Winston Ingram, would always tell fibs on set to deceive his fellow cast.
The Still Game co-creator revealed how he got caught up in one such prank alongside his long-time comedy partner Ford Kiernan whilst the trio were getting into character for the hit show.
After seven years, Hemphill picked up the phone to an amused Kiernan who called him a “c**t” for telling him that the Olympic javelin thrower had died.
A clip shows Hemphill sitting on stage alongside Some Laugh hosts Marc Jennings, Stephen Buchanan and Stuart McPherson at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow.
Sporting a black shirt and purple tracksuit bottoms, he says: “Paul was an absolute prankster, he would just mix lies and the truth to deceive you, he did it all the time.
“You can’t keep your guard up all the time you know.
“You’d be sitting with the newspaper and Ford [Kiernan] came in and he’d always point at whoever had the newspaper and say, ‘Who’s dead?’”
The 54-year-old told how on one occasion he was sitting with the newspaper when Paul Riley spotted Ford in the corridor and prepped Hemphill on what to say.
He revealed: “One day I had the newspaper and Paul was sitting next to me and he spotted Ford coming and he went like that, ‘Say Fatima Whitbread’.
“Ford walked on and he went ‘Who’s dead?’ I just went, ‘Fatima Whitbread’.
“He was like ‘What, what happened?’”
Hemphill then leaves the crowd in stitches as he reveals the outrageous answer that cemented his lie for nearly a decade.
The Chewin’ The Fat star added: “I just went ‘Oh steroids or something you know’, so now I’m involved in Paul’s lie and I swear to God, seven years later Ford was sitting watching A Question of Sport.
“He called me up and he went ‘Here you ya c**t, you telt (sic) me Fatima Whitbread was dead, I’ve just seen her on A Question of Sport’.
“So I called up Paul and I said ‘Fatima Whitbread’s just landed’.”
The hilarious tale was shared online earlier this week (MON) by the Some Laugh podcast with the caption: “Who’s dead prank – Still Game star Greg Hemphill describes being caught up in a prank on co-creator Ford Kiernan played by Paul Riley aka Winston.”
The post received over 21,000 likes with hundreds of comments from Still Game fans who rushed to share their views.
One said: “That’s so funny, miss Still Game.”
Another added: “Brilliant.”
A third replied: “Pure quality.”
A fourth pleaded: “These c***s have got to get together again and write a new sitcom.”
Fatima Whitbread represented the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympics in the 1984 Los Angeles Games winning a bronze medal.
She went one better four years later in Seoul, South Korea winning a silver medal while also holding the title of World Champion from her victory in 1987 in Rome, Italy.
