Kieran Hodgson on Big in Scotland and how impersonating Olivia Colman saved his career

"Doing, in particular, that Crown video... it maybe saved my career, or at least helped it get through the pandemic without too much harm done," he tells RadioTimes.com.

You might also recognise him from his role of the highly-strung Gordon in BBC sitcom Two Doors Down – it was this project that spurred his relocation to Scotland, which serves as the inspiration for his stand-up show Big in Scotland, a "fish out of water" story that explores "that thing I think we all do, where you use a new place as an opportunity to become a new person – hopefully a better one".

"The show is talking about how I pin a lot of my failings as a human being on being English – and therefore moving to Scotland is a chance to get rid of the bad parts of myself, ie the English ones, and replace them with all the best things that a human being can be, ie Scottish," Hodgson explains.

"But, of course, it turns out that being Scottish is a little bit more complicated than we English people sometimes imagine..."

Big in Scotland focuses on Hodgson's identity crisis as he seeks to reinvent himself in a new home, as he struggles to get to grips with the varied, multi-faceted Scottish culture and fumbles his way through conversation topics like Scottish independence.

"There's that English anxiety about how we will be perceived up here and how we sound to Scots – particularly when, like me, you have quite a received pronunciation, BBC-ish accent. I imagined that when I spoke, people were just going to hear Margaret Thatcher... you almost feel guilt about even being here and opening your mouth.

"Now, this never comes from the Glaswegians, who are some of the friendliest people on the planet, but I think it's fun to play with English self-perception."

Given it served as the impetus behind the entire show, Hodgson's role in Two Doors Down is naturally referenced throughout. "I'm very aware that I am clinging to the coattails of Two Doors Down – I knew that people would be coming for Gordon, and I was prepared for them to be disappointed when Gordon did not materialise.

"But the Two Doors Down audience have been great not only in turning up, but more crucially in giving what I do a go. I've been very touched when people have come up at the end and said, 'Well, that was a bit different, but we enjoyed it.'

"I've also had people come up to me at the end of the show and immediately ask about Two Doors Down as if they haven't seen or heard me say anything – that's just white noise that they have to sit through, and then afterwards they can ask me when the new series is coming on!"

Having extended the show's run until April 2024, Hodgson also has plans to take Big in Scotland further, with aspirations to translate it for television as a sitcom.

"I think the way that it would work is you break it down to its core elements – and those core elements are me, Kieran Hodgson, this well-meaning, quite bookish English guy, trying to throw himself into a world that is at once very familiar and very new."

Now settled in Scotland, Hodgson's not looking to relocate again any time soon – even if it means it'll help generate material for his next show.

"The problem now is that I've run out of stories to tell – my life has become quite dull. I've gone through all of the rites of passage. I'm just waiting to move to another country, basically, before I can do another show.

"As a comedian, you develop this strange, slightly poisonous cynicism about pretty much every life experience, because there's a little voice in the back of your head going, 'Could this be a show?' It's a horrible way to exist."

Kieran Hodgson's show Big in Scotland has added extra tour dates, including at the King's Theatre In Glasgow as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival on 29th March 2024. For tickets visit berksnest.com.

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