OCTOBER 29, 2013: A former Greenock actor was ‘Still Game’ more than a decade after starring in the opening credits to the hit BBC show.
Jordan Benacci was then an aspiring 18-year-old and this was his first break. He was cast as a young Victor, played by Greg Hemphill, but little did he know that the comic capers of Victor and his pensioner pal Jack, Ford Kiernan, would prove such a smash hit.
The news that the duo and rest of the cast were set to reunite for a stage show at Glasgow’s Hydro next year, had sparked a media frenzy with fans flocking for tickets to a string of sell-out shows.
Jordan, of Forsyth Street, said: “It was 11 years ago.
“I was studying drama at James Watt College at the time and I got the part through an extras agency Casting Call. They thought I looked quite like Greg Hemphill and invited me in for an interview.
“I met Greg and Ford Kiernan and we had a wee chat. They were great, really nice.
“When I first went up for the interview, I didn’t know anything about the show and it didn’t go out for another eight months after that.
“It was weird seeing myself on screen at first — it was a bit of a novelty. “But I’m used to it now and people in my work still come up and ask me if that is me.”
Jordan, who was a member of Kayos Theatre company and local boyband Jackzone, starred in many local productions at the Arts Guild, and thought the publicity would lead to other work but the agency went bust and he didn’t sign up anywhere else.
He decided acting wasn’t for him and worked with his dad Tony, who ran an olive business, but for the previous two years had been a business accounts co-ordinator with T-Mobile.
He said: “I wasn’t motivated enough. I was really surprised when I got the part and I thought more things would just lead on from that.”
But Jordan was hoping for his very own reunion with the funnymen when he went to see the show with his girlfriend next year.
He quipped: “Maybe I’ll be able to blag a backstage pass.”
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