Greg McHugh interview

Greg McHugh, one of the most popular characters on Scottish television, says he's off to broaden his horizons down south and shows us around the set of sitcom Fresh Meat.

On BBC Four, there's a new series based on a comedy character who's already had success on radio...

If you've not seen Bob Servant, Independent, it's about a businessman from the Tayside coastal town of Broughty Ferry, who made his name after coming out victorious in the town's "Cheeseburger Wars". The story follows Bob's plans to stand in the local by-election as an independent candidate...

The opening episode started off well, but like Bob's campaign, it seemed to peter out towards the end. The best part of this episode saw Bob (Brian Cox) launch his campaign on local radio. During the interview and phone-in with the resident DJ (played by Greg McHugh), Bob manages to please one or two people with some on-the-spot ideas, but offends hundreds more in the process. His biggest 'controversy' comes with his plan to stop dog fouling in the local park by banning all dogs from it. If a dog does enter the park, he plans to shoot it. Bang.

There were some a few other highlights - like Bob's attempts to appeal to young voters at a primary school, but near the end - when he tries to sort out the mess he's caused - the show just seemed to fade.

Bob Servant Independent (BBC4) began life as a series of books and radio shows about a Dundee burger magnate taking on the world at large, and his first TV outing, in which he is standing as an independent in a local election, suggests he might have done better to stay where he was. Delusional interior worlds are much easier to create - and a lot funnier - when they are done as a series of soundscapes or monologues. Seeing Bob in the flesh diminished him, as it became increasingly difficult to see his extreme vision as absurd, rather than moronic. Still, there were some good moments and Greg McHugh (Howard from Fresh Meat), who played Anders the local radio presenter, is almost worth his own show.

Greg McHugh: The man behind Gary, Tank Commander

Greg McHugh is a rising comedy star who has had a busy year, writing and taking the lead in cult series Gary, Tank Commander as well as playing alongside Jack Whitehall in Channel 4's student comedy Fresh Meat.

Thank goodness for Fresh Meat, where the whole Prof Shales-Oregon-his son love triangle finally combusted, with the setting of a literary garden party ensuring this was as excruciating as we dared hope.

I was underwhelmed by the start to the second run and unconvinced the whole way through by the additions to the student house, Heather and Sabine, who only seemed to be there to disapprove of the original six, a wholly unnecessary function given we already know how juvenile, berkish, slovenly and psychotic they could be, and how much we enjoyed that. They would not be denied, though, and there have been many priceless moments in this run, not least the Bullingdon Club-style initiation ceremony where JP was required to smoke a "pipe of pubes".

Just before his world collapsed, Shales tried to move Oregon to another uni, suggesting York and offering to find a place for the equally troublesome Vod as well. "There's a rail museum," he said, to which Vod replied: "You're a rail museum." It's not all about the yoof. Fresh Meat wouldn't be as funny as it is if the lecturers weren't lecherous, cynical, vain, bitchy and pretentious, just like The History Man's Howard Kirk - although Kirk reckoned he was cool and Shales, played by Tony Gard­ner, will never be that. (By the way, that's two mentions in consecutive weeks for Gardner; I assume the cheque's in the post).

Where does the show go from here? At the end, there was a touching speech from JP: "Dad's dead, Mum's sold up, I've been deserted by all my friends in purple trousers and, yah, when I first met you guys I thought you were a bunch of freaks, losers and pinheads - but I need you." By the natural order of undergraduate life some should drop out, but let's hope Howard stays. The very first scene where Greg McHugh turned a hair dryer on Peking ducks strung up on a kitchen pulley while wearing a Killing jumper and nothing on his bottom half was one of the all-time great entrances by a Scotsman. "Sorry," he said, "but I've got used to wearing trousers of the mind."

With the exams over and the end of the series nigh, our beloved students are all over the shop. As JP struggles to hold the house together, Vod is living off the last words of John Frobisher (the world-famous poet she sort of killed), Howard (Greg McHugh) gets over Sabine with a baby pig (no, not like that) and Kingsley and Josie, well, we could see where that was going. But it's Oregon who's in the biggest fix: father-and-son love triangles never work out. Hurry back for series three, guys.

Series two of the excellent student comedy comes to a close as the end of the academic year approaches and the housemates face big decisions regarding the future. With Oregon's (Charlotte Ritchie) past sins about to catch up with her, Kingsley (Joe Thomas) determined to move out, a shock revelation about Howard (Greg McHugh), and an oinking new cast member - it's no wonder JP (Jack Whitehall) is worried that his dream of domestic bliss is about to crumble forever.

When he's not shuffling around in his dressing gown as student/abattoir worker Howard on Fresh Meat, Greg McHugh takes the rather more testosterone-addled form of army corporal Gary in another of BBC Scotland's strong comedies.

It's the Easter holidays (just on screen, you haven't missed a few months) and posh buffoon JP (the hilarious Jack Whitehall) invites his housemates to his rural retreat. Naturally, it's not as idyllic as it seems and scenes reminiscent of Withnail & I ensue. Josie (Kimberley Nixon) marks ex-fiancé Dave's wedding day in her own unique way, while socially inept Howard (Greg McHugh) and Dutch mature student Sabine (Jelka Van Houten) find themselves home alone together. There's soon a surprise proposition.

This student comedy adroitly captures the awkwardness of university life and is backed by A-grade performances from its terrific ensemble cast. In tonight's episode Kingsley (Joe Thomas) gets interest from a slick oil executive at the college careers fair, sparking the dour Howard's (Greg McHugh) anger. Meanwhile, JP (Jack Whitehall) comes up with some clueless money-making inventions ("a tank-copter - you basically put helicopter blades onto a tank") and Oregon's (Charlotte Ritchie) internship is scuppered by the advent of an acid-tongued rival.