Robert Carlyle says he “never gets tired” of Francis Begbie – as he revealed work has begun to bring the Trainspotting psychopath back in a new TV adaptation.
Carlyle, 64, shot to fame in 1996 playing the volcanic character in the film based on Irvine Welsh’s first book, and reprised the role in a follow up, T2.
The actor, back on screens in ITV drama The Hack, said work is under way on a six part series based on Trainspotting follow up The Blade Artist.
Welsh’s 2016 novel saw Begbie emerge from prison a reformed character, living with his wife and daughters in the USA and working as a successful sculptor under the name Jim Francis.
His old and new lives collide, however, when he returns to Edinburgh following the death of his estranged son.
Carlyle, who has said he finds the “reformed” Begbie “even scarier”, hinted the series could hit screens in time for Trainspotting’s 30th anniversary next year.
He told BBC Radio Scotland: “I’m blessed that there were a couple of things I did back then in the nineties and one of them was Trainspotting – the other was The Full Monty – and these pieces and these characters meant and still mean so much to people all these years later.
“To have been involved in something like that is an absolute blessing and I never ever feel uneasy talking about Begbie.
“When the second Trainspotting film came out, T2, I was contacted by so many people who said that they went to see the first film when they were 21 and they were going to see the new film with their 20-year-old kid.
“That kind of generational thing sitting inside the same cinema was incredible.
“A new generation has embraced it, as has happened recently with the whole Oasis reunion thing.
“You look at all the footage from these gigs and the amount of kids — teenage kids, early twenties — that are in the audience. They wouldn’t even have been born when these albums came out.
“It’s astonishing that these things have that power so many years later.”
He added: “We’re working at the moment on The Blade Artist, which is basically the further adventures of Begbie. That was the book that Irvine Welsh wrote about five or six years ago.
“That will be directed by the same person who directed The Hack and we’re working on that at the moment.
“We have one script of six and that will be a six hour piece for TV, probably that will see the light of day some time in the next couple of years.”
While Carlyle looks forward to returning as Begbie, he revealed one character he has no plans to bring back is Highland policeman Hamish Macbeth.
Carlyle starred in three series of the BBC Scotland comedy drama from 1995-97.
He said: “I think he would be the oldest copper on the block if that was going to happen, so it’s unlikely.”
