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Birthday:
01-06-1940
Deathday:
11-30-2023 (83 years)
Birthplace:
Paisley, Scotland, UK
Biography
John Byrne was an artist, writer and playwright. He was best known for the BBC television series Tutti Frutti and the play Slab Boys.
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Their works
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American Cousins
Act like Customs Official
event2003 star_border 5.3
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Two American mafiosi, Gino and Settimo, take refuge in the Glasgow cafe owned by their Scottish/Italian cousin, but he isn't the tough guy they'd expected. Gino and Settimo try to repay Roberto's hospitality by chasing off a debt collector who wants his property, but their strong arm tactics alarm him and he realises they aren't the PR consultants they claimed to be.
Byrne About Byrne
Act like Self/Mobile Library Driver
event1988
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In this diverse and inventive autobiography, painter and author John Byrne travels from his youth, through his art school years to the period of his stage and TV plays, and on to his death, sometime in the future. With him is Robbie Coltrane as himself and as a shamus invented by Byrne, who discovers there are as many aspects to the author as there are actors playing him.
Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime
Act like Himself
event2017 star_border 6
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Celebrating Billy Connolly's 75th birthday and 50 years in the business, three Scottish artists - John Byrne, Jack Vettriano and Rachel MacLean - each create a new portrait of the Big Yin. As he sits with each artist, Billy talks about his remarkable life and career which has taken him from musician and pioneering stand-up to Hollywood star and national treasure.
Normal Service
Writer
event1988
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It's General Election day 1964, and the resources of Forth and Clyde Television are under stress. Too many shows want too many things done too quickly. Some of the design and graphics staff are intent on not getting involved. Others won't survive the strain.
Clydescope
Animation
event1974 star_border 7
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A panorama of the Clyde, from Biggar to Brodick, with Billy Connolly as your guide. Directed by Murray Grigor for the Films of Scotland Committee.
Scotch & Wry
Writer
event1986 star_border 10
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Video Compilation of the Scottish TV Comedy Sketch Show. Stand out characters include Supercop, an idiot motorcycle policeman whose catchphrase was 'Alright Stirling, oot the car' and whose goggles would spring off his helmet; Dirty Dickie Dandruff; Gallowgate Gourmet, the unbelievably unhygienic TV chef; and McGlinchey, a colourful wide-boy.
Your Cheatin' Heart
Writer
event1990 star_border 6
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In this fondly remembered mini series John Byrne, creator of Tutti Frutti, explores the country music scene in an unsentimental portrait of Glaswegian life and culture. Local food and wine correspondent Frank McClusky falls in love with waitress Cissie Crouch. Unfortunately for him, she’s the wife of a convict, who is serving time for a crime he didn’t commit. As Frank’s life becomes more embroiled with Cissie’s he goes on a mission to track down the guilty men.
The Slab Boys
Director
event1997 star_border 8
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Paisley, Scotland, in 1957. Three likely lads look forward to the staff dance at the local carpet factory where they work
Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Isles
Writer
event1993
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In the autumn of 1773, the English writer Samuel Johnson visits the Hebrides, or Western Isles, off the North-West coast of Scotland. With him are his friend, the Scotsman James Boswell, and his black servant Francis Barber. Staying with a series of hosts, including elderly Jacobite heroine Flora McDonald, Johnson and Boswell encounter traditional Scottish hospitality at first-hand, all the time arguing about politics (and in Boswell's case losing his head over every pretty woman he meets). Meanwhile, Francis and another black servant they encounter provide evidence of the new consciousness emerging in Britain's soon-to-be-independent American colonies.
Gerry Rafferty: Right Down the Line
Art Designer
event2011
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Gerry Rafferty, who died in January 2011, was one of Scotland's best-loved singer/songwriters, famous around the world for hits such as "Baker Street" and "Stuck in the Middle With You". This ArtWorks Scotland film, narrated by David Tennant, tells the story of Rafferty's life through his often autobiographical songs and includes contributions from Gerry's daughter Martha and brother Jim, friends and colleagues including Billy Connolly, John Byrne, and Joe Egan, admirers such as Tom Robinson and La Roux, and words and music from Rafferty himself.
The Slab Boys
Writer
event1979
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Paisley, Scotland, in 1957. Three working-class lads look forward to the staff dance at the local carpet factory.
Double Scotch & Wry
Writer
event1987 star_border 10
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Rikki Fulton and friends return with another selection of sketches and comedy characters, including the Reverend I.M. Jolly, Supercop, dirty barber Alky Broon and Big Chief Swift Half.
The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil
Art Designer
event1974
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In their songs, comedy and exuberant music, a travelling theatre company give a fiercely polemic account of Scottish history, from the aftermath of Culloden to the oil boom. Their production before a live audience is intercut with filmed reconstructions of the Highland Clearances and the Victorian obsession with hunting stags.
Tutti Frutti
Writer (6 ep.)
event1987 star_border 7.1
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Tutti Frutti is a BBC Scotland six part drama series, transmitted in 1987 and written by John Byrne. It starred Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, Maurice Roëves, Richard Wilson and Katy Murphy. It brought many of the cast to national prominence.
Your Cheatin' Heart
Writer (6 ep.)
event1990 star_border 6
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In this fondly remembered mini series John Byrne, creator of Tutti Frutti, explores the country music scene in an unsentimental portrait of Glaswegian life and culture. Local food and wine correspondent Frank McClusky falls in love with waitress Cissie Crouch. Unfortunately for him, she’s the wife of a convict, who is serving time for a crime he didn’t commit. As Frank’s life becomes more embroiled with Cissie’s he goes on a mission to track down the guilty men.
The Play on One
Writer (1 ep.)
event1988 star_border 6
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A series of plays specially written for television.
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