Jane McCarry is a Scottish actress and teacher. She is best known for her roles as Isa Drennan 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 ...

sitcom ''

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, ...

'' (2002–2007, 2016–2019), and as Granny Murray in the

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

show '' Me Too!'' (2006–2008). She trained as an actor at Edinburgh's

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a public university located wholly within the county of East Lothian on the outskirts of Musselburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret (1045–1093). The university can trace its ...

School of Drama.

Career

Beginning in 2006, McCarry appeared in the children's programme, '' Me Too!'' as the middle-aged childminder, Granny Murray. Similar to the already popular ''

Balamory ''Balamory'' is a Scottish live-action children's programme on CBeebies for pre-school children, about a fictional small island community off the west coast of Scotland, named ''Balamory''. Four series were produced from 2002 to 2005 by BBC Sco ...

'', the show revolved around McCarry's character working as a

nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...

who educates children as to what parents may be doing during the workday. The character of Granny Murray provides a kernel of wisdom in each episode that "saves the day" for one of the parents off at work. McCarry also starred in ''

Rab C Nesbitt ''Rab C. Nesbitt'' is a Scottish television comedy, comedy television series that originally aired between 1988 and 1999. The show returned for a one–off special in 2008, before being re-commissioned in 2010. Its second run was broadcast from ...

'', playing Andra's wife in the series eight episode, "Bug" and a nurse in the series 4 episode "Buckfast". McCarry worked as an actor with the Baldy Bane Theatre Co Glasgow. She appears occasionally in plays at the

Edinburgh Festival Theatre The Edinburgh Festival Theatre (originally Empire Palace Theatre and later shortened to Empire Theatre) is a performing arts venue located on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is used primarily for performances of opera and ballet, lar ...

. McCarry taught drama at

Shawlands Academy Shawlands Academy is a state secondary school in the Shawlands area of Glasgow, Scotland. Admissions Shawlands Academy was Glasgow's designated International School and one of Scotland's most multicultural schools. It was situated in Shawland ...

and St Pauls High School (

Pollok Pollok (, ) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,000 at its peak, its population ha ...

) for three years. She also used to teach at St Andrews RC Secondary School in Glasgow's East End as well as Glasgow Gaelic School. In 2012, Jane appeared in ''

The Steamie ''The Steamie'' is a comedy-drama stage play, written by Tony Roper. It is set on Hogmanay 1950 and provides a window on the lives and aspirations of a group of Glasgow women washing their clothes in a public washhouse (steamie). It was commis ...

'' at the

King's Theatre, Glasgow The King's Theatre is located in Glasgow, Scotland. It was built for Howard & Wyndham Ltd under its chairman Baillie Michael Simons as a sister theatre of their Theatre Royal in the city and was designed by Frank Matcham, opening in 1904. The ...

. McCarry joined the rest of the cast of the multi

BAFTA Scotland BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

award-winning

in 2014 at the comeback live show at the

SSE Hydro The OVO Hydro is a multi-purpose indoor arena located within the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland. The arena was initially named The Scottish Hydro Arena after its main sponsor Scottish Hydro Electric. During construction, Scottish ...

in Glasgow. There were 21 performances of the sell-out show. In 2016, she reprised her role of Isa in the new series of Still Game, recommissioned by the BBC after the stage show's success. In 2018, McCarry appeared in

Nativity! The Musical ''Nativity! The Musical'' is a stage musical written and directed by Debbie Isitt (co-composed by Nicky Ager), based on Isitt's 2009 film of the same name (part of the ''Nativity'' film series). The musical follows a Coventry based primary sch ...

while it toured to The Kings Theatre, Glasgow.

Personal life

McCarry is an only child and was raised in the King's Park area of south Glasgow. She has two children (Iain and Alexander) with her former husband, Robert Gibson who is from nearby

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

; she has stated that she based aspects of her Isa character upon observations of the town's residents going about their lives.

Filmography

References

External links

* 1970 births Living people 20th-century Scottish actresses 21st-century Scottish actresses Actresses from Glasgow People educated at Kings Park Secondary School Rutherglen Scottish radio actresses Scottish schoolteachers Scottish stage actresses Scottish television actresses {{Scotland-actor-stub