Eileen McCallum, MBE (born 2 December 1936) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

actress who is best known for playing the part of shopkeeper Isabel Blair through the complete run of soap opera '' Take the High Road'' from 1980 to 2003, and as Liz Hamilton from 2005 to 2018 in the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

soap ''

River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera that was first broadcast on BBC One Scotland on 24 September 2002. ''River City'' follows the lives of the people who live and work in the fictional district of Shieldinch. In November 2017, a ...

''.

Career

McCallum appeared in Glasgow drama ''

Just Another Saturday "Just Another Saturday" is the 15th episode of fifth season of the British BBC anthology TV series ''Play for Today''. The episode was a television play that was originally broadcast on 13 March 1975.. "Just Another Saturday" was written by Pe ...

'' in 1975. She then gained her first major soap role in ''

Garnock Way ''Garnock Way'' was a short-lived Scottish soap opera, produced by Scottish Television for the ITV network, running from 1976 to 1979. It was replaced by '' Take the High Road'' which also featured actors Eileen McCallum, Bill Henderson, Pau ...

'' playing Jean Ross from 1976 to 1979. ''Garnock Way'' was axed to be replaced by '' Take the High Road'', which was first aired on 19 February 1980 with McCallum taking one of the lead roles as village storekeeper Isabel Blair through the programme's full run from 1980 to 2003. Series creator Don Houghton praised McCallum and her co-star

Marjorie Thomson Marjorie Jessica Sutherland Thomson (13 October 1913 – 10 March 2012) was a Scottish film, television and theatre actress. She is best known as a cast regular in the hit TV series ''Take the High Road'' from 1980 to 1995. In the programme ...

for their clarity as speakers of the Scots dialect, an essential attribute of their respective roles in the programme. McCallum was awarded the MBE for her services to drama in the 1992 New Year Honours. Other notable roles include playing Dolly in the television version of Tony Roper's '' The Steamie'' and guest appearances in programmes such as ''

Rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+) ...

'', '' Still Game'' and ''

New Tricks ''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast on BBC ...

''. She has also worked on radio. In 2006, she joined the cast of the

soap opera ''

'' as Liz Buchanan, then later Hamilton. In 2015, she appeared as Mrs Gaffney in '' The Legend of Barney Thomson''. After 12 years in ''River City'', McCallum retired from the role in May 2018. She lives in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and runs a trust about

Duchenne muscular dystrophy Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe type of muscular dystrophy that primarily affects boys. Muscle weakness usually begins around the age of four, and worsens quickly. Muscle loss typically occurs first in the thighs and pelvis follo ...

, due to having two grandsons with the disease.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

River City official site
*
River City, Liz Buchanan Character page
1936 births Actresses from Glasgow Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Scottish soap opera actresses Scottish television actresses Take the High Road {{Scotland-actor-stub