{"id":41663,"date":"2023-12-12T11:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1942707"},"modified":"2023-12-12T12:57:49","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T11:57:49","slug":"kieran-hodgson-on-big-in-scotland-and-how-impersonating-olivia-colman-saved-his-career","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/kieran-hodgson-on-big-in-scotland-and-how-impersonating-olivia-colman-saved-his-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Kieran Hodgson on Big in Scotland and how impersonating Olivia Colman saved his career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Doors Down star on his stand-up show, viral video success and his next sitcom. <\/p>

By Morgan Jeffery\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 12 December 2023 at 10:00 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Following an autumn tour and sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Kieran Hodgson\u2019s latest stand-up show is extending with extra dates around the UK, including a show playing as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with Hodgson\u2019s stand-up work, you might know him from a series of viral videos<\/a> that saw him impersonating everyone from Olivia Colman in The Crown<\/a> to William Hartnell in Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing, in particular, that Crown video\u2026 it maybe saved my career, or at least helped it get through the pandemic without too much harm done,\u201d he tells RadioTimes.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You might also recognise him from his role of the highly-strung Gordon in BBC sitcom Two Doors Down<\/a> \u2013 it was this project that spurred his relocation to Scotland, which serves as the inspiration for his stand-up show Big in Scotland, a \u201cfish out of water\u201d story that explores\u00a0<\/span>\u201cthat thing I think we all do, where you use a new place as an opportunity to become a new person \u2013\u00a0<\/span>hopefully a better one\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe show is talking about how I pin a lot of my failings as a human being on being English \u2013 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,\u201d Hodgson explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut, of course, it turns out that being Scottish is a little bit more complicated than we English people sometimes imagine\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Big in Scotland focuses on Hodgson\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s that English anxiety about how we will be perceived up here and how we sound to Scots \u2013 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\u2026 <\/span>you almost feel guilt about even being here and opening your mouth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, this never comes from the Glaswegians, who are some of the friendliest people on the planet, but I think it\u2019s fun to play with English self-perception.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Given it served as the impetus behind the entire show, Hodgson\u2019s role in Two Doors Down is naturally referenced throughout. \u201cI\u2019m very aware that I am <\/span>clinging to the coattails of Two Doors Down \u2013\u00a0<\/span>I knew that people would be coming for Gordon, and I was prepared for them to be disappointed when Gordon did not materialise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Two Doors Down audience have been great not only in turning up, but more crucially in giving what I do a go. I\u2019ve been very touched when people have come up at the end and said, \u2018Well, that was a bit different, but we enjoyed it.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also had people come up to me at the end of the show and immediately ask about <\/span>Two Doors Down<\/span> as if they haven\u2019t seen or heard me say anything \u2013 that\u2019s just white noise that they have to sit through, and then afterwards they can ask me when the new series is coming on!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kieran