A fitting - if teary - tribute to a lost Scottish comedy great

That’s not so hard to contemplate, given the actor’s natural comedy bent, a man who lived to make others laugh during his 40-year stint in panto and television performances.

But right now, we can imagine the celestial smile on Andy Gray’s face will be even wider. The Perth-born actor will be truly chuffed to bits knowing his last theatre show idea, which tells of his final months battling with cancer, is to be unveiled at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

Co-writer Alan McHugh, who is one of the UK’s top panto writers, explains how this highly unusual play developed. “When Andy was first diagnosed with a particular type of blood cancer (in 2018) he went on to see lots of doctors, oncologists, all sorts of people, and he began to write down everything that was happening to him, all the hard-to-hear comments, the funny lines. And he called me and said ‘Alan, there’s a play in this. Do you fancy giving me a hand?’”

McHugh, who is also an actor and panto star, was of course keen to be involved. He had known Andy Gray for 25 years and the pair became particularly close when they worked on the Susan Boyle play 13 years ago. But he reckoned his chum had come up with a great idea for a very dark comedy and after Andy Gray’s life-saving bone marrow transplant in 2019, McHugh, Gray and acting pal Grant Stott then came together to develop a script idea.

Grant Stott, Jordan Young and Gail Watson. Picture: Tom Duffin (Image: free)

“We began working on the play in Andy’s house in Scone,” McHugh recalls. “Andy talked of his experiences and Grant and I chipped in ideas, with me all the time typing furiously. By the end of that day we had a beginning, middle and an end for the play. And the idea was that Andy and Grant would feature in a two hander. It was a great session. We felt terrific.”

The trio however didn’t come up with the title, Chemo Savvy. “That was Tamara, (Kennedy, Andy Gray’s partner) and it was perfect because there is a whole Lone Ranger theme running through the play,” McHugh explains.

“Andy loved the Lone Ranger, (he retained his passion for his boyhood heroes throughout his life) and we knew that his best friend Tonto referred to him as Kemosabe, which meant ‘faithful friend'. The premise we worked out was that Andy’s story would be told through two fictional brothers, Rab and Bill, and we their trace their relationship using Lone Ranger references.”

Rab, we learn, goes on the same medical journey as Andy, but Rab and Bill had fallen out; when their mother was dying from cancer Rab couldn’t take the pressure and ran off. But when Rab has to contend with cancer he returns, in desperate need of help, a support system, and the play follows this attempt at reconnection. “We learn that Rab has to have a bone marrow transplant. And it’s Bill who turns out to be a hundred per cent match. And now Rab and Bill are like the Lone Ranger and Tonto. They become blood brothers.”

However, Rab also has to mend the huge bridge he’s burned with his ex-partner Angela, whom he had also abandoned. “We use flashback scenes in the play to reveal the brothers as little boys, and we bring back their mother in spirit form,” says McHugh, smiling at the comedic opportunities the device offers up. And the drug hallucinations suffered by Rab during treatment allow opportunity for great comic effect.

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Interestingly, Andy Gray was set to play cancer sufferer Rab, but changed his mind. “As we developed the play, Andy felt uncomfortable playing the cancer sufferer,” explains McHugh, “not feeling right about the audience seeing him playing a version of himself going through cancer, treatment and so it was switched, with Grant playing Rab and Andy playing Bill, the clown role.”

Development of the play was halted however when Covid arrived in 2020 and Andy Gray spent much of the year in isolation. But towards the end of the year, with restrictions lifted, the actor felt much better, strong enough to return to work and he agreed to appear in a socially distanced panto in Milton Keynes. But while the comedy giant looked to have beaten MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome) Andy Gray contracted Covid, and with his immune system already compromised he was again hospitalised in Ninewells in Dundee.

Sadly, after two weeks on a ventilator, Scotland lost one of its greatest ever comedy talents. The actor who’d first shone on television in BBC sitcom City Lights and Naked Video and became a River City regular in more recent times, died in January 2022, aged just 61.

Andy Gray appeared in River City (Image: free)

But what of Chemo Savvy? Could this tale of family loyalty, regrets and redemption still make it onto the stage? Could it prove to be a part of Andy Gray’s legacy? “Tamara, Clare (Andy’s daughter) and Annie (his ex-wife) were all united in saying we had to put this play on. And that’s what we resolved to do.”

The play was reconfigured with Grant Stott playing Rab and River City co-stars Jordan Young as Bill and Gail Watson playing Angela and Alan McHugh worked steadily on the script, always aware of the central condition attached by its originator. “When Andy was in hospital the first time, he’d told the doctors and nurses about the play and what they all asked was if he could please make it funny. They didn’t wish to see another cancer story of doom and gloom. Andy promised them he would make it funny.”

We won’t see Andy Gray on stage. But we will see the essence of the man, a performer who not only created thousands of laughs but who managed to find laughter in the face of extreme illness. “What the play does is to try to capture the incredible positivity Andy revealed during his treatment, how he really grabbed onto his second chance at life.”

Alan McHugh’s voice breaks a little as he recoils a couple of lines from the play, which were the thoughts of his friend at the time. “Rab says to his mum’s spirit; ‘Look mum, life is precious. I don’t know how long I have left, but I’m going to make the best of it. And this time I won’t let you down’. And Rab reveals what Andy Gray always had, which is something we all need to cling onto, which is hope.”

Chemo Savvy, the Gilded Balloon at the Museum during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 15th-24th August 7.40pm.