Rab C. Nesbitt is a Scottish sitcom which began in 1988. Produced by BBC Scotland, it stars Gregor Fisher as an alcoholic Glaswegian who believed unemployment was the life for him. He was originally a regular in the BBC2 sketch series Naked Video (1986-1990).
The pilot, made for BBC Scotland in 1988, a Christmas special entitled Rab C Nesbitt's Seasonal Greet, repeated on the network the following year. The first series began on 27 September 1990 and continued for seven more, ending on 18 June 1999 and returning with a one-off special on 23 December 2008.[1]
A ninth series of six episodes began airing on 21 January 2010. The special sees several important developments, which carry on into the series: Gash now has a daughter, Peaches; Mary and Ella have set up in business together as cleaners (and Jamesie, Rab and sometimes Gash all work for their company, House Mice); and Rab himself has converted to Christianity and given up alcohol.
Ian Pattison created and wrote all 53 episodes. They approached darker topics than usually encountered in sitcoms (although almost always in a blackly comedic manner rather than a serious one). Such topics ranged from alcoholism to Neo Nazis to STDs.[2] Often several normally unapproachable subjects were used in the same episode. The series is also known for its uncompromising use of Glaswegian accents and dialect, and its technique of breaking the fourth wall by frequently having Rab address the viewer directly.
