Rab C. Nesbitt (1990)
BBC comedy series about Rab C. Nesbitt, a drunken, string-vested layabout who lives with his long-suffering wife Mary and his two sons in the working class area of Govan in Glasgow. When he's not getting drunk with his pals that include the devious, womanising Jamesie Cotter, he's offering his philosophical outlook on life to whoever will listen.
📺 Seasons & Episodes
Specials7 episodes
1. Rab C. Nesbitt's Seasonal Greet
⏱ 42 minTo hard-drinking Govan resident Rab C. Nesbitt, there is no magic to Christmas when you have no money and he cannot share his long-suffering wife Mary or teenage sons Burney and Gash's enthusiasm for the festive season, preferring instead to comment cynically to camera on its commercial trappings. The ultimate betrayal is seeing neighbour and best friend Jamesie Cotter working as a department store Santa, which leads to a fight and a spell in gaol for Rab.
2. Fitba
⏱ 43 minRab, Burney and Jamesie go to Italy to see Scotland play in the World Cup, taking frail and elderly ex-soccer star Matt Fernie with them. Jamesie gets arrested - and visited by Ella, seeking a separation - but Matt is taken seriously ill before Scotland's final game and Rab must lie to let an old man die happy.
3. Home
⏱ 50 minMary's cousin Shug, who lives in England but gets very Scottish after a skinful, brings his hatchet-faced wife Phoebe to spend Hogmanay with the Nesbitts, who are still feuding after an unhappy Christmas. Shug is in his element at the karaoke, the Chinese and the home brew session...until he sobers up and gets an attack of English conscience. Phoebe, surprisingly, lightens up and invites Mary to a party south of the border where Mrs. Nesbitt enjoys a highland fling of her own.
4. More
⏱ 48 minA Christmas special which finds Rab bewildered at the prospect of becoming a father-in-law as Gash announces his intention of getting married and Jamesie out on the streets as Ella trades him in for a younger model, the hunky Donny. Of course it is down to Rab to put everything back to normal again.
5. Clean
⏱ 44 minRab C. Nesbitt returns for the first time in nearly a decade and seems to be a changed man, but can he resist a return to his old ways as Christmas approaches?
6. Rab in Hoodie
⏱ 30 minAfter unsuccessfully trying to beat the bedroom tax by passing his spare room off as his study Rab joins Jamesie, annoyed that his disability allowance bid has been rejected, for a public protest against welfare cuts - quickly dispersed by police. The pair then decide to rob a building society and so the legend of Rab in Hoodie with his merry men (Jamesie and Andra) who rob institutions and share their spoils with retirement home residents - is born. They become folk heroes and Mary is interviewed on television. But Rab's grand-daughter Peaches still needs money for the school trip to Sweden, so one last heist is planned - the theft of a Rembrandt from a local museum. Will Rab in Hoodie succeed , or will he and his merry men literally end up in the gutter?
7. Rab C. Nesbitt Live
⏱ 119 minA stage recording capturing the cast's performance during their nationwide tour, it was filmed at Aberdeen's Capitol Theatre. The plot centres on Rab returning home months after leaving for the World Cup, only to face rejection from Mary and the weans. Forced to share a dingy bedsit with friend Jamesie Cotter, Rab reflects on past regrets and his lost love, Isobel Niddrie. Notable is the fact that the plot follows on from the Fitba special, and contains plot lines used in Series 2's Lesson and Domestic episodes.
Series 16 episodes
1. Work
⏱ 30 minRab returns home three days late from the butchers, leaving Mary no choice but to move out after years of trouble. Much to his horror, Rab discovers he has to get a job.
2. Rat
⏱ 29 minMary finds a rat in the kitchen, Rab discovers his favourite shop has turned into an art boutique, and a by-election takes place in Govan: Rab votes Conservative.
3. City of Culture
⏱ 28 minGlasgow's new image as the "City of Culture" looks set to be tarnished by a cynical Rab.
4. Drink
⏱ 27 minRab goes to see his doctor and discovers that if he does not give up drinking within a year, he will die. Not taking any notice of the doctor's orders, he blows his money on booze.
5. Offski
⏱ 29 minRab goes to stay with Mary's cousin Shug, who lives in Sidcup, after finding himself on the run from the police. Gash receives a letter from his girlfriend, and decides to run away to London.
6. Holiday
⏱ 29 minThe Nesbitts are in Spain on holiday, after Mary wins a competition on a packet of OvenChips.
Series 26 episodes
1. Country
⏱ 29 minRab decides to take the family up to the highlands for the weekend.
2. Lesson
⏱ 38 minWhen Rab is released from prison, and Mary doesn't want him back, he moves in with Jamesie and begins to have flashbacks to his days at school and his first love Isobel.
3. Domestic
⏱ 28 minWhen Rab returns home to find his weans have been taken into care, he's so upset he can hardly finish his kebab.
4. That's Entertainment
⏱ 30 minRab comes into contact with Social Services reject and local headcase Young Young McGurn.
5. Ethics
⏱ 29 minRab finds himself in the middle of a moral dilemma. After saving a wino from drowning, the man decides to leave sole responsibility of his life in Rab's hands, much to his dismay.
6. Life Has Meaning
⏱ 28 minRab has an argument with the devil worshipper who lives next door, and gets a curse put on him.
Series 36 episodes
1. Rich
⏱ 30 minMary lands a job with a lecherous boss, and Rab, fearing she may dump him, turns to his pal Jamesie Cotter for advice on improving his love life.
2. Touch
⏱ 30 minMary has a new job, but her boss seems a bit too friendly, which makes Rab think that she's having an affair.
3. Gifted
⏱ 30 minA strange new affliction is visited on the Nesbitt household. Rab's younger son Burney has been diagnosed as gifted and begins attending weekend classes for advanced tuition. But as his talent blossoms, so do the thorns of jealousy and resentment, as Rab and elder son Gash are left hungry in the emotional wasteland.
4. Wean
⏱ 30 minWith Ella's biological clock ticking loudly and husband Jamesie less potent than a seedless orange, parenthood seems a pretty unlikely prospect. Fortunately, Rab offers to supply the wherewithal needed for such a delicate operation.
5. Right
⏱ 30 minThe beer-swilling Scottish sage decides to behave respectably on his release from jail. But with Burney adopting fascist tendencies, Gash on drugs, Mary at her wits end, and a new Tory local councillor to boot, will Rab's fresh outlook escape the tarnish of a world spinning out of control?
6. Cell
⏱ 30 minRab is thrown into a grimy police cell for being drunk and disorderly and is shocked to find a guard pointing a gun at him.
