Six
cabbies could achieve celebrity status as they
star in a new late-night BBC Scotland series,
Taxi For Cowan, due to hit TV screens later
this month.
Hosted by Radio Scotland’s On and Off The
Ball funnyman and football pundit Tam Cowan,
the series follows him on a near-the-knuckle
travelogue of six Scottish towns.
Cowan draws on the unique insights of cabbies
and other characters as he investigates the
high and low spots of Scotland.
One cabbie, Gavin Howison, 47, who has plied
the streets of Edinburgh for 13 years and was
drafted in for a week of filming earlier this
year.
He said: "It was a real experience and I now
appreciate what these guys have to do. That
said, I would rather put up with Saturday night
drunks in the back and rush-hour traffic than
have Tam and the camera crew in the cab all
the time.
"I nearly lost the plot at one point when we
ran into David Jason filming a period drama
in the West End. I told them if they really
wanted a professional in front of the cameras,
to go and get one of those guys. They assured
me I did all right.
"I’ve never done anything like this before,
so I don’t know how I will cope with any
infamy the programme gives me, but I’d
say the cab is probably a bigger star than me
as it’s the only black cab in the series.
I suppose taxi d
rivers
have got a bad enough name, so I’m sure
I won’t do them any real harm."
The other towns featured are Rothesay, Gretna,
Fort William, St Andrews and Peebles.
In Rothesay, Cowan goes back "doon the watter"
for the first time in 20 years as he reminisces
about his childhood
holidays, while in Gretna he earns cash busking
with a kazoo and betting on the greyhounds,
and witnesses a wedding.
Mr Cowan, who collaborated with writer Rab Christie,
said: "I was thinking about doing a book about
taxi drivers in Glasgow, asking them funny questions
and so on, but Rab said it would make a good
TV programme.
"I love Scotland, so I want to show Scotland
in a good light. You want to have a laugh about
things, but I would like to see the Scottish
Tourist Board do a better job of selling Rothesay
than we do."
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