CUIDE RI CATHY – UNA MACLEAN MBE
Monday 23 March, 10pm, BBC ALBA
Una MacLean MBE, Scottish actress and comedian, best known for appearing in pantomimes, reveals that she only got into acting so that she and a couple of her girlfriends could enjoy a free party. Una joining Larkhall Community Drama Group which was offering the incentive and jokes “I’d love to say I was born in a trunk.”
Laughing throughout her interview with Cathy MacDonald for the next programme of the Cuide ri Cathy series on BBC ALBA, Cathy follows Una during a typical day that starts with a visit to her local fish market, where a young fishmonger keeps asking her to go clubbing, followed by a session in the gym.
Winning her first contest, performing in a ‘two-hander play’ for Larkhall in a Scottish Community Drama Association competition, Una enjoyed the reaction from the audience. However, it wasn’t until she was convinced by Howard M Lockhart, acclaimed playwright and judge at the time, that she pursued acting and joined an evening class at the RSAMD. Una recalls, “The minute I walked into the Athenaeum it was, like meets like, and I knew this was what I wanted to do.”
When Una received her MBE she was ‘gobsmacked’ when the Queen thought she was awarding it for her services to charity. Una, being extremely nervous, rambled on and on even saying......‘and I know your gardener’. The Queen was unable to get a word in edgeways.
Una also talks about her experiences with stage freight and mentioned that she takes “Rescue Remedy by the gallon” and reveals that in her early days she saw a lovely chemist in Dundee and asked if she could get something to help with anticipation. She was prescribed Gelsinium which she has with her all the time and has put loads of people onto it.
Cathy is intrigued to hear some funny stories from Una’s colourful career. Una recalls the times she used to visit Maryhill cooperative to study characters for inspiration for Jimmy Logan's farces, watching all sorts including people in slippers. However, she was horrified when one day a woman approached her and suggested she have her chipped nails done. A lesson Una’s never forgotten.
Reminiscing, Una also tells the story of the time she was on a train with the late Calum Kennedy, dubbed ‘the king of the Highlands’ for his Gaelic singing and TV performances. On their way up to Aberdeen to record a show for Grampian TV, the train broke down so they went for a drink until they could catch another one. Similar to a scene in a gangster film, Calum produced a suitcase stuffed full of money and used some notes to pay the bill.
CUIDE RI CATHY will be broadcast on BBC ALBA on Monday 23 March at 22.00 and is available on Sky channel 168 & Freesat channel 110.