Only an Excuse?
| Only an Excuse? | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sketch |
| Created by | Phil Differ |
| Written by |
Jonathan Watson Iain Davidson James Kirk Mark Nelson Gregor Paton John McGlade |
| Starring |
Jonathan Watson Tony Roper (1987–1995) Alistair McGowan (1996–1998) Greg Hemphill (1995) Lewis MacLeod (1995) Gordon Kennedy (1996) Grant Smeaton (1997–) Paul Reid (2000–2001) Geoff Boyz (2001) Julie Austin (2013) Judy Murray (2016) |
| Country of origin | Scotland |
| Original language(s) | English/Scots |
| No. of episodes | 25 (as of 2015) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Scotland |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Picture format |
4:3 (1993–1998) 16:9 (1999–) |
| Original release | 31 December 1993 – present |
Only an Excuse? is an annual Scottish football comedy sketch show that airs each Hogmanay.
Starring actor and comedian Jonathan Watson, the show features impressions of some of Scottish football's great characters such as Denis Law, Tommy Burns, Barry Ferguson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Frank McAvennie, Walter Smith and Graeme Souness, as well as caricatures of the "stereotypical" Old firm fan.
Only an Excuse? was first broadcast as a one-off special on BBC Radio Scotland, prior to the 1987 Scottish Cup Final. It was a parody of the five-part BBC Scotland television documentary Only a Game?, which had aired in Scotland prior to the 1986 World Cup Finals and comprehensively documented the history of Scottish football. The documentary was narrated by Scottish novelist William McIlvanney.Jonathan Watson expertly mimicked McIlvanney's distinctive voice as narrator of the radio spoof.
After further occasional radio specials including Only Another Excuse?, A Tale of Two Seasons, and Only a World Cup Excuse, all of which were released on cassette by BBC Scotland, the show made the switch to television in 1993, retaining its original double act of Rangers fan Watson and Celtic fan Tony Roper. The first episode replaced Rikki Fulton's long-running annual comedy sketch show Scotch and Wry in the Hogmanay television schedules. A new episode of Only an Excuse? has been shown every New Year's Eve since then.
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