Rab is in trouble yet again with the police ( surprise surprise ) for non-payment of fines and is forced to lie low for a while. Mary manages to fix it up for Rab to stay with her cousin Hugh ( which in Govan is pronounced 'Shug' ) in his Surburban home in Sidcup. Shug's wife Phoebe is something of a snob and sees Rab's presence in their house as an intrusion. Shug is ashamed of his Scottish roots, ( to the point where he lied to Phoebe about his upbringing when they first got married ) however that does not stop his heritage from showing through from time to time ( which would become a recurring joke in the further episodes he did ).
As if the stress of Rab being away from home isn't bad enough, Mary ends up at her wits end when Gash runs away to London in search for his girlfriend Angie ( from whom he has received a 'Dear John' letter from ). So now Rab must search for his missing son, as well as avoiding the Glasgow police, who have managed to track him down in London...
It's not a bad episode but it doesn't quite hit the target. Overall it is more than adequate an introduction for the character of Shug, so excellently played by Sean Scanlan. This was also Sara Corper's first appearance as Phoebe. She did two further episodes - 'Home' and 'Rich' before being replaced by Sarah Crowden. Stephen Grief, who is probably best remembered as Harry Fenning from 'Citizen Smith', plays the belligerent London sergeant who engages ( much to his cost ) in a battle of wits with the Glaswegian officer ( played by a bearded Andy Gray ) after he has collared Rab.
The moments where Rab's thick Glasgweigian dialogue is translated in the form of subtitles from broad Scots to English is amusing to watch. This was parodying the complaints from non-Scottish viewers about how they found the show's characters incomprehensible.
Funniest bit - Rab is walking along the embankment to Westminster Abbey when all of a sudden the tolling of the Big Ben clock catches him by surprise. ''I'll say this for the Big Ben'', says Rab, ''it's got one hell of a size of a dong on it!''. It would take a complete fool to not understand the joke.
As if the stress of Rab being away from home isn't bad enough, Mary ends up at her wits end when Gash runs away to London in search for his girlfriend Angie ( from whom he has received a 'Dear John' letter from ). So now Rab must search for his missing son, as well as avoiding the Glasgow police, who have managed to track him down in London...
It's not a bad episode but it doesn't quite hit the target. Overall it is more than adequate an introduction for the character of Shug, so excellently played by Sean Scanlan. This was also Sara Corper's first appearance as Phoebe. She did two further episodes - 'Home' and 'Rich' before being replaced by Sarah Crowden. Stephen Grief, who is probably best remembered as Harry Fenning from 'Citizen Smith', plays the belligerent London sergeant who engages ( much to his cost ) in a battle of wits with the Glaswegian officer ( played by a bearded Andy Gray ) after he has collared Rab.
The moments where Rab's thick Glasgweigian dialogue is translated in the form of subtitles from broad Scots to English is amusing to watch. This was parodying the complaints from non-Scottish viewers about how they found the show's characters incomprehensible.
Funniest bit - Rab is walking along the embankment to Westminster Abbey when all of a sudden the tolling of the Big Ben clock catches him by surprise. ''I'll say this for the Big Ben'', says Rab, ''it's got one hell of a size of a dong on it!''. It would take a complete fool to not understand the joke.
