Scot Squad star heading to Glasgow theatre on his 'perfect job'

“I feel a bit stuck sometimes because people will have such a hard and fast view of things – to actors you’re a comedian, to comics you’re an actor,” he explains.

“Scot Squad was the perfect collision of those two worlds - which are actually closer than you think.

“It was the perfect job for me. I was very lucky to be part of it.”

Chris Forbes (Image: Andrew Jackson @cursetheseeyes)

Chris is also well known as The Other Murray Brother, a character he plays in spoof videos with Judy Murray, pretending to be the less famous, less interesting sibling of tennis champs Jamie and Andy; and for his successful stand-up shows.

This week, however, he is returning to theatre - which is, he points out, where his journey into the world of performing began.

Chris as The Other Murray Brother, with Judy Murray (Image: Jamie Simpson)

“I’d never done theatre before, never acted in youth theatre, but I went to America when I was 16, did a show there and it stuck in my head,” says Chris, who was a top-flight basketball player in his youth, playing for the under-16s Scotland team and spending his last year of high school on a scholarship to Washington State.

“In Scotland, you got laughed at if you wanted to do drama, but in America, it was so celebrated, so cheesy and there were no inhibitions.

"I did a few sketches, told some jokes and really loved it – I actually found myself more enthused about that than the basketball.”

When he returned home to Bridge of Weir, he decided to do an acting and performance course at Langside College, landed a few comedy gigs, including a spell supporting Kevin Bridges, and “that was that,” he says.

“I had a very patient mum,” he says, with a laugh. “I think that was very important. I was also thinking, if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it.”

Chris in rehearsal (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

Chris joins respected actor Kirsty McDuff in Anna/Anastasia, Jonny Donahoe’s take on the true story of Anna Anderson, who claimed to be the Duchess Anastasia, sole survivor of the Romanov family execution in the 1920s. Chris plays a detective, loosely based on the real-life investigator who was in charge of her case.

The production, part of Oran Mor’s popular lunchtime theatre series A Play, A Pie and A Pint, is billed as a comedy, but there is a much deeper thread running through the story, says Chris.

“There are very comic elements but the story looks into why she did this, the mental health issues, her stays at the asylum….there are tender moments mixed in with the laughs,” he says.

“It’s an epic tale, and quite the undertaking, but it has been expertly crafted by Jonny. Like most people, I expect, I had heard of the story, and thought I knew it - but there is a lot more to it.

“Kirsty is incredible as Anna, she is the main story, I’m just hoping I will be good conduit.”

Chris with Kirsty McDuff (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

Chris has a three-year-old daughter, Lily, and he admits becoming a dad has brought a whole new level of juggling into his life.

“God, yes – we were talking about this in rehearsal, because we all have children – it just becomes a very different job,” he nods. “In the past you could go home, learn lines... not now. Now, it all has to happen here.

"Lily has no interest in hearing me talk about 1920s Russia.”

He jokes: “One day I hope she might learn lines with me, but for now? Totally useless….”

Despite his stage and screen success, basketball still figures in Chris’s life.

“I did a show last year all about my basketball glory days, and it made me so nostalgic I signed up to a Division 2 team and got back into it,” he says, adding with a laugh: “I’m about 20 years older than everyone else,  but it’s a lot of fun. Obviously, I still had that itch to play.”

The team is the Bishopton Broncos.

“One thing that has not changed over the years, is that basketball teams still have outrageous names,” he grins.

Next up are some intriguing-sounding projects he can’t talk about, and a spell in panto at the MacRoberts Centre in Stirling, which he can.

“I’m playing the dame in Snow White, I can’t wait for that,” he says, smiling. “And that IS something my daughter might be interested in. So that will be fun.”

Anna/Anastasia is at Oran Mor from September 30 to October 5.