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 ''Take the High Road'' (renamed ''High Road'' from 1994 to 2003) was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, which started in February 1980 as an ITV (TV network), ITV daytime programme, and was broadcast until 2003. It was set in ...

'' from 1980 to 2003, and as Liz Hamilton from 2005 to 2018 in the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

soap ''

River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera created by Stephen Greenhorn which has been broadcast on BBC One Scotland since September 2002. Since 2019, the show has aired episodes a day earlier on the new BBC Scotland channel. Set in ...

''.

Career

McCallum appeared in Glasgow drama '' Just Another Saturday'' in 1975. She then gained her first major soap role in '' Garnock Way'' playing Jean Ross from 1976 to 1979. ''Garnock Way'' was axed to be replaced by ''

'', 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 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 ''Still Game'' is a Scotland, Scottish sitcom produced by Effingee Productions, The Comedy Unit and BBC Scotland. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who played the lead characters, Jack Jarvis (Still Game character), Jack Jarvis, ...

'' 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 On ...

''. 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 is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and runs a trust about

Duchenne muscular dystrophy Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe type of muscular dystrophy predominantly affecting boys. The onset of muscle weakness typically begins around age four, with rapid progression. Initially, muscle loss occurs in the thighs and pe ...

, due to having two grandsons with the disease.

Theatre

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