
Two Dundee actors and producers are pitching for a national TV deal for comedy sketches.
The pair already collaborated on a clutch of projects earlier in their careers and picked up an award along the way.
Stuart Hamilton and Liam Johnston also spent seven years putting together a small series for a humorous online show depicting their start in the showbiz industry and coaxed big name stars into appearing for one liners.
Called Sons of Spielberg, the final episode was concluded a few weeks ago with the series now available to view on the BBC website and Facebook.
Liam, from Dundee, and Stuart, of Broughty Ferry, also hanker for time in front of the camera and have appeared as extras in a host of shows ranging from Outlander to Bob Servant.
Stuart, 35, said: “We are now working on a project we hope to pitch to the BBC before Christmas and especially now with the Britbox streaming coming up lots of shows will be looking for material.
“We made three sketches before for the BBC’s Short Stuff programme and they want to see more.
“They have already shown two of them and seem to like our stuff, which is good.
“I am comfortable in front or behind the camera but prefer acting and writing.
“When I was an extra on Bob Servant there was a bit when I was standing beside Brian Cox.
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“I actually gave him a copy of the first two episodes of Sons of Spielberg.
“We wanted him to be in it, but it never materialised.
“In the first episode I am seen running and jumping from Broughty Ferry harbour onto the Tay… in January. That was back in 2012 and it has taken us seven years to get here.
“The idea was about filming situations we found ourselves in with a few amusing stories.
“When the first episode came out it got 3,000 views online which is not bad and now we are hoping people sit up and take notice of what we did with no budget and think what we could do with a budget.”
The pair lured Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg to say a line after he came to St Andrews Golf Course for a celebrity golf event and also secured a cameo performance from The Proclaimers.
Stuart added: “Mark Wahlberg’s caddy was a friend of mine and we got him to say a line.
“We had this line about what to call the show and he says on screen: ‘Call it Sons of Wahlberg’.
“And we also had Lorraine Kelly take part which was brilliant and she invited us down to the studios.
“We also managed to get Kate Dickie, who played Lysa Arryn in Game of Thrones, to Dundee to do some bits on the show.”
A sketch they entered for the Paramount Comedy Awards scooped a top prize in London and Liam, 38, said: “We picked up an award for short comedy and we met people from Paramount which was nice.”
