{"id":916583,"date":"2026-04-25T01:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/916583\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T01:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:26:23","slug":"river-city-stars-in-tears-as-scotlands-last-soap-films-final-scenes-after-axe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/916583\/","title":{"rendered":"River City stars in tears as Scotland’s last soap films final scenes after axe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ACredit: Alan Peebles.3 Anne Drive, Stenhousemuir, Larbert FK5 4JE<\/p>\n

THE cast and crew of River City sobbed for Shieldinch as Scotland\u2019s last soap called its final cut.<\/p>\n

Actors teared up throughout the final day of filming after a 24 year run on BBC<\/a> Scotland.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Entertainment newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Stephen Purdon felt grateful on the final day. Credit: Alan Peebles<\/p>\n

Sally Howitt is gutted to be saying goodbye. Credit: Alan Peebles<\/p>\n

Exec producer Martin McCardie said: \u201cThe team that finished last Friday, as soon as rap was called, there was sobbing right throughout the studio. It was an eerie sound. So it is very emotional.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been up and down because we are fighting to get to the very end of a really special finale.<\/p>\n

Stephen Purdon<\/a>, who played Shellsuit Bob throughout the entire run, added: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to fully dissect in my brain until maybe next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started here when I was 19, still staying with my mum. Now I\u2019m leaving, nearly 43, and I have two kids and a wife. <\/p>\n

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YOU’RE BARD<\/p>\n

Ex-River City star reveals major career change after leaving BBC show in 2017<\/p>\n

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RIGHT NOTE<\/p>\n

River City star gearing up for major career change once the soap ends next year<\/p>\n

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Martin McCardie hopes viewers love the ending. Credit: Alan Peebles<\/p>\n

\u201cSo all those things, it\u2019s weird because a lot of things that happen in this, I think back to memories that Bob\u2019s went through, it reminds me of a time in my personal life, growing up on screen, growing up working here, growing up just being around the same people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came in a bit earlier and just had a wee walk in here myself and tried to take it all in, but you\u2019ve still got scenes to film, you\u2019ve still got to be professional, you\u2019ve still got to go and do your work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current series of River City<\/a> is on air until May 6 and the final episode will air at the end of August.<\/p>\n

It will include a dramatic showdown between Lenny Murdoch and his nemesis Harry Foulkes, while we\u2019ll also bid a fond farewell to the residents of Shieldinch for the last time.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if Bob finally gets his happily ever after or if Scarlett O\u2019Hara gets her Gone With The Wind moment and finds her leading man.<\/p>\n

As well as the grand finale, there will also be a special, celebratory one-off documentary called River City: Our Story, directed and produced by Tony Kearney, who also starred as Scott Wallace for nearly 10 years on the soap.<\/p>\n

Martin considered blowing up the entire set for the ending \u2013 but decided the viewers deserved better.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe thought about all of those types of endings, but then what we thought was that the audience deserved a character based ending. And in that we thought there\u2019s a story that\u2019s been driving through that we wanted to take to a conclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt that with the audience, there\u2019s a character in particular, Lenny Murdoch, although he\u2019s a serial killer and murdered everybody, \u00a0they love him because he\u2019s their serial killer. We need to have him in the conclusion of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then what we wanted to make sure was the heart and soul of the show, which is Bob and Scarlett and all those characters need to be represented at the end. So we\u2019ve got a whole bit at the end that I think would bring a tear to their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen added: \u201cIt\u2019s the people obviously I\u2019ll miss most. Consistently acting for 24 years is kind of unheard of, especially being on the same show for 24 years, but the people here are what I will miss most.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just myself, there\u2019s so many people here that\u2019s worked since the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll miss the people coming in and seeing the faces and having the banter, the chat, and actors you work closely with, it\u2019ll be difficult not seeing anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

With such fond memories of their time on set, it\u2019s no surprise some of the cast picked a few mementos to take home with them.<\/p>\n

Sally, who has also played Scarlett since the beginning, said: \u201cI\u2019ve had to take the Virgin Mary from a sideboard. I actually took a frying pan and a leopard print tray and some coasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe run it by the lovely design and art department and everything. So I\u2019ve got a few crackers, but Mary\u2019s my favourite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin joked: \u201cPeople are taking away mementos, taking away clothes. You go into a set and you\u2019re like, \u2018where\u2019s half this set? Actors have pocketed them. And it\u2019s a very emotional time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Alan Peebles.3 Anne Drive, Stenhousemuir, Larbert FK5 4JE THE cast and crew of River City sobbed for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5009],"tags":[192,748,4884,26187,712,430,16,15],"class_list":["post-916583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scotland","tag-bbc","tag-britain","tag-great-britain","tag-river-city","tag-scotland","tag-soap-stars","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116462747230415512","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}