Yer Granny star Gregor Fisher has form for playing an old woman Maw Broon!

Gregor Fisher’s recipe for life do something scary.

Donning women’s clothes as the matriarch of the family in a new stage comedy might seem like a real departure for Gregor Fisher.

But the star of Yer Granny does have just a bit of previous playing our very own Maw Broon.

“My God that was a long time ago,” says Gregor as he sits down for a revealing chat with the Sunday Post.

“It must have been in the good old Naked Video days. Tony Roper was Paw and Elaine C. Smith was the Bairn.

“It was great fun to do because I grew up around The Sunday Post and my old mum used to read it from cover to cover.”

It’s fair to say that Yer Granny is a long way removed from the goings on in Glebe Street, although, like Naked Video, it boasts a similarly starry cast.

Maureen Beattie, Barbara Rafferty, Paul Riley and Jonathan Watson are among those joining Gregor in the National Theatre of Scotland production which opens in Greenock on May 19 and tours big theatres across the country until early July.

It’s based on a smash-hit Argentinian production, with the setting now a Scots-Italian chippie in 1977. Gregor plays the 100-year-old granny whose ravenous appetite has already bankrupted the business and is now forcing the family to consider desperate measures.

So why has the man most famous as Rab C Nesbitt decided to don granny garb rather than a string vest?

“Well, it’s no’ for the money,” laughs Gregor. “It’s the first proper play I’ve done for a very long time. When it came across my desk I was flummoxed by it, but interested enough to read it several times.

“And there’s a terrific cast. So if you’re going to do something you’re not sure about you want to be in the company of people who know where they’re at.”

If he did need an extra push it came in the shape of son Jamie.

“He told me you should do something every day that frightens you as that way lies progress.

“When I asked if it was a line from a book he’d read he told me it was actually something I’d once told him. And he’s right, because this is a very different kettle of fish and that’s stimulating and terrifying.

“When I was young I’d have done anything. Now I’ve been round the track several times and I’m more aware than ever of the pitfalls.”

At 61 and settled in what sounds like an idyllic lifestyle in France, the thought occurs that Gregor might just fancy sipping a nice glass of red and watching the world go by with wife Vicki.

“I’m not really a man for putting my feet up; I’ve always got something on the go.

“But I think you can live in isolation and I’ve maybe been

doing slightly too much of that in the past two or three years.

“And every actor in the world is pleased that anybody should think to ask them.

“My father-in-law is Peter Vaughan, who’s in Game of Thrones. He’s 92 and a one-off marvel but even he’s highly delighted when his agent phones up.”

Yer Granny is just the first of two major stage appearances he’s also doing a fundraiser for Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre on May 31 Gregor has lined up this year.

He has just signed up to star in the panto at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow.

“If I’m being absolutely truthful they are paying me very rather well and French garden centres can be very expensive!

“Mrs Fisher, the kids and I will all decamp and spend Christmas in Glasgow.

“I can hear your readers saying, ‘lucky old him’. I probably am and I’m appreciative of it.”

There seems a contentment to Fisher these days these days and he appears to be more at ease than in previous encounters.

So, what does irk? Not at lot it, he’d have it.

“I suppose I do find it slightly irritating that I’m described as ‘Gregor Fisher, actor and comedian’.

“I’ve never been a comedian in my life. I’ve huge admiration for geniuses like Billy Connolly who can stand on a stage and hold an audience for an-hour-and-a-half.

“I can’t do that. I’m an actor, pure and simple. It just happens I’m slightly overweight, baw-faced and this is where life has taken me.”

With that he’s off for a ciggie and an encounter with our photographer.

“He’s probably been scheming to get me sticking my heid through a toilet seat,” Gregor mutters with a smile.

Yer Granny Various venues, from Tuesday.