''The Baldy Man'' is a television series starring Gregor Fisher, a Scottish

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

. It was broadcast in two series comprising thirteen episodes on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, screening in 1995 and 1998, and produced for

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...

by Working Title Films. Both series were also broadcast in full on Russian channel TB6 Moscow. The character's chief attributes were his

comb over A comb over or combover is a hairstyle commonly worn by balding men in which the hair is grown long and combed over the bald area to minimize the appearance of baldness. Sometimes the parting is lowered so that more hair can be used to cover the ...

hairstyle as well as his bumbling nature and plump figure. The series was produced and directed by

Colin Gilbert Colin Gilbert, born 1954, is a Glasgow-born television producer and former senior creative director of The Comedy Unit. Career Gilbert began his career in comedy writing jokes for the radio shows ''Week Ending'' and ''The News Huddlines''. He j ...

who worked with Fisher in Scotland's well known situation comedy ''

Rab C. Nesbitt ''Rab C. Nesbitt'' is a Scottish comedy series which began in 1988. Produced by BBC Scotland, it stars Gregor Fisher as an alcoholic Glaswegian who seeks unemployment as a lifestyle choice. Rab C. Nesbitt was originally a recurring character i ...

'' among many others. It was written by Philip Differ who was the script editor on ''

Naked Video ''Naked Video'' is a BBC Scotland sketch show that was aired on BBC2 from 12 May 1986 to 18 November 1991. The show was created by Colin Gilbert who had previously created ''A Kick Up the Eighties'' and ''Naked Radio'' (the latter being a radio ...

''. The character first appeared in a series of sketches in the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

show ''

'' (1986-1991)The Baldy Man at The British Sitcom Guide
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Guest stars

The series featured cameos by a number of well-known performers such as

Helen Lederer Helen Margaret Lederer (born 24 September 1954) is an English comedian, writer and actress who emerged as part of the alternative comedy boom at the beginning of the 1980s. Among her television credits are the BBC2 sketch series ''Naked Video'' ...

, Joanna Kirkland, Lionel Blair, Ford Kiernan,

Greg Hemphill Gregory Edward Hemphill (born 14 December 1969) is a Scottish-Canadian comedian, actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his work with Ford Kiernan on the BBC Scotland comedy series ''Chewin' The Fat'' (1999–2005) and ''Still Game'' ...

, Iain Cuthbertson and John Grieve.

Episode list

Series One: # New Look / Delegate - first broadcast: 13/04/1995 # Keep Fit / Ill - first broadcast: 27/04/1995 # D.I.Y. / Reunion - first broadcast: 16/08/1995 # Tearoom / Pets - first broadcast: 25/08/1995 # Bath / Referee - first broadcast: 30/08/1995 # Hair / Crime - untransmitted in UK, but was shown in Russia Series Two: # Mother's Day / Smell - first broadcast: 11/09/1997 # Goldrush / God - first broadcast: 15/10/1997 # Barbecue / China Doll - first broadcast: 22/10/1997 # Chauffeur of the Bride / Back Window - first broadcast: 26/10/1997 # Casualty / Baby Sitting - first broadcast: 25/11/1997 # Jigsaw / Murder - first broadcast: 17/12/1997 # Litter Avenger / Aliens - first broadcast: 24/12/1998

DVD and VHS releases

The complete series has been released on DVD as a two disc boxset in Germany from Pidax Entertainment. However, there as of yet have been no immediate plans so far to release the series onto DVD in Britain. The first two episodes were released on a video entitled ''Introducing...The Baldy Man'' on 9 October 1995. There were no further releases of the series, however, advertisements to promote a further 2 VHS releases for episodes 3-6 were featured on the tape.

Endorsements

The character was also the star of a series of humorous

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s for Hamlet cigars.Photobooth.net , Photobooths in Commercials : Hamlet Cigars
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References

External links

*
Gregor Fisher filmography from the British Film Institute (includes list of Baldy Man appearances)
ITV sitcoms Television series by Working Title Television Television series by ITV Studios 1995 British television series debuts 1998 British television series endings 1990s British sitcoms Carlton Television English-language television shows {{UK-tv-prog-stub