Grado and Jean Johansson on their Hogmanay TV tag team

Grado and Jean Johansson for STV's Bringing in the Bells programme.

It was a chance encounter around 15 years ago on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street when Jean Johansson and Grado met for the first time.

“Me and my brother were walking up the street and we spotted (former Rangers striker) Jonatan Johansson and his wife, Jean. Being big Rangers fans, we stopped and spoke to him, but we probably ended up speaking to Jean more,” recalled wrestler, actor and radio host Grado. “She says I asked for an autograph but I don’t remember that, although I know we got a selfie as it still pops up on my Facebook memories.”

Jean said: “His energy was so funny and sweet that day. People usually come up and ask for a photo with Jonatan and then leave, but not Grado. He hung around for 10 or 15 minutes and I never forgot him, so when I started seeing him at events, I realised who he was.

“It’s no surprise he’s become a star because he’s funny, charismatic and warm.”

Bringing In The Bells

The pair have established an unlikely but entertaining partnership on STV’s Hogmanay show, Bringing In The Bells, and are back on the sofa this week for the fourth year running.

Jean continued: “From meeting on the street and him asking for a selfie to being co-presenters is lovely. I love it when things like that happen and he deserves it. He makes me laugh the whole time. We’re a bit of an odd couple but the viewers seem to like it. I don’t know who came up with the idea, but it’s worked and we’re a good partnership.”

Bringing In The Bells sees three celebrity pairings – the others being Sean Batty and Laura Boyd, and Susie McCabe and Gordon Smart – looking back at some of the big moments of 2024 and looking ahead to the New Year in the comfort of Kennox House in Ayrshire.

Both Grado and Jean have fond memories of past Hogmanays.

Grado recalled: “The first thing I think about is Only An Excuse and counting down the hours to see who wee Johnny Watson was going to imitate. I would rewatch it on New Year’s Day with my mum, who’d be nursing a hangover, and she would always say, ‘I don’t ken who half these are supposed to be, but it’s funny.’

“My dad was a taxi driver and never missed a shift, but my mum would go to the social club in Stevenston on Hogmanay, which was a hot ticket. After midnight it was bring your own bottle and it would run until about 6am. She would come back in an awfy mess.

“Nowadays, having done panto for eight years, New Year’s Day is one of my only days off. At the Hogmanay show, we sing Auld Lang Syne with the audience and it always brings a tear to my eye. You think about the year just gone and the people no longer with us and it gets quite emotional.

“Afterwards, I’ll get out of my costume and wash the make-up off and get up the road, where my missus will have a wee tray of nibbles and a glass of Prosecco ready. We’ll watch the telly, wait for the bells and then go to bed. I don’t go to town on Hogmanay anymore, not with two weans and a show on New Year’s Day.”

Jean said: “In my 20s and 30s I loved going out on Hogmanay. Now, it’s a great dinner and good wine, lovely bottles of Champagne, putting the telly on and flicking through the channels. I love being in and being cosy, just me, Jonatan and our son Junior.

“When I was young, my mum would save on Christmas so that we could go to a Hogmanay ball in Glasgow. We used to get a table for the family at the Moathouse or Crowne Plaza, where there would be a ceilidh and food and drink, and a piper at midnight. That was a massive treat for us and I loved getting dressed up and bringing in the bells that way. We did that for about 10 years.

“The 1st was a day for visitors. People would come to the house with food and drink – that was a big tradition in Port Glasgow where I grew up and it’s something I still do now at our house.”

Traditions

With Jean’s husband being Finnish, they alternate between there and Scotland every Christmas.

“It’s very different over there, very Christmassy,” she said. “There can be about eight feet of snow sometimes and the temperature can drop to about –17, so the Finnish tradition is to make the house very cosy. Candles are lit and we celebrate on the 24th, which is lovely for Junior as he has the 24th and 25th to look forward to. The food is different too – lots of cold fish, meatballs, ham and sausages. Not a turkey in sight. We’re lucky to have a home there and it also lets Junior see the other side of the family.”

Jean is no stranger to jumping on a plane to other countries – 2024 has seen her visit several thanks to her Channel 4 series, A Place In The Sun.

“It had me in Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, and some new ones to me like Turkey and Barbados, which were both magical. I’m so lucky, but it is a lot of travelling. I’ve also done Christmas At Beechgrove – it was lovely to be invited into a Scottish institution as guest presenter. Just being in the line-up at Christmas and New Year is massive for me and feels like a payoff for all the hard work of the last couple of years.

“I had Key To A Fortune on Channel 4 as well, so 2024 has exceeded my expectations. Hopefully the work will continue next year, and I’m going to be in London a lot more, pushing myself out there for new things.”

Panto

Grado – real name Graeme Stevely – has been just as busy. As well as panto at the Pavilion, he had TV, radio and podcast work to juggle over the past 12 months.

“I enjoy doing the breakfast show on Go Radio – that’s a way of life in itself, getting up at 4.30 every morning. I’ve also got the football podcast I do with Stephen Purdon and Chris Toal called A Pint And Two Shots, and I’ve filmed another series of Scotland’s Greatest Escape, which I’m presenting with Judith Ralston. It’s in a different format this time, so hopefully that’s a success.

“I also moved out of Stevenston for the first time, two miles down the road to Saltcoats, so getting settled into a new house was a big part of the year as well.

“We thought we would be doing a new series of Two Doors Down and a live show at the Hydro, but the unfortunate loss of Simon Carlyle means it wouldn’t be right to do it without him. I still think there’s one more thing to be done with Two Doors Down though, and every day people ask me when it’s coming back.”

So, will Jean and Grado be making resolutions?

“I vowed to come off Twitter last year and I did, and it’s been the best thing,” Jean said. “Next year, we want to be more sustainable as a family. Grado said he was going to stop vaping, but he didn’t. I caught him puffing behind the sofa while we were filming Bringing In The Bells!”

He said: “I’m on four disposable vapes a day. There’s 600 puffs in them – that’s 2,400 puffs a day. Times that by seven, and it’s the equivalent of smoking thousands of cigarettes. So that’s my resolution again this year.”

‘Passion is still in the ring’

He is an actor, a radio and TV presenter and a podcast host, but Grado says wrestling remains his greatest passion.

Coming from Ayrshire, a county that has also produced current WWE stars Drew McIntyre and Piper Niven, Grado believes nothing can compare to a good wrestling event.

“Wrestling is still my number one love, no matter what,” he said.

“Being on stage for panto, being involved in sitcoms, is great, but nothing feels better than wrestling. I believe it’s one of the best forms of live entertainment. A wrestling show with proper wrestlers on it, proper production and lighting, loud music and special effects – there’s nothing better.

“The best time for me in wrestling was when I was signed to American company TNA and I was going over twice a month to tape the shows at Universal Studios in Florida, then coming back here and wrestling.

“I’m still wrestling but not so much due to the radio and other bits and bobs. It’s hard to go on the road to Southampton Town Hall or wherever and leave my missus and two kids behind. I need to find a balance between work and family life. But I do feel there’s still some stuff I can do with the wrestling. I have some ideas for next year and I’ve had some exciting meetings.”

Bringing In The Bells, Hogmanay, 11.30pm, STV and STV Player