10 April 2024 – Sachin, Ranesh’s dad, is a lethal art critic who ‘actually exposed a gallery for displaying a fake Kandinsky’. He appears cold and superior and although not a complete villain, he majorly contrasts with the friendliness of Nina’s family. It soon becomes evident that Sachin doesn’t quite know how to talk to everyone. Sachin loves Ranesh, but he doesn’t find him that interesting. He’s the kind of person who doesn’t really give much away conversationally: perennially bored and sort of dismissive of everything. Around Sachin, everyone operates at 300% to try and win him over.

In your own words, what is Dinosaur about?

Well, I would say Dinosaur is about family, about family dynamics, but it’s also about people pretending to be things they’re not, certainly, in the stuff that I’ve filmed. So, Sachin, Ranesh’s dad, is a very pretentious art critic and you get the impression that nothing would impress him, and everything would disappoint, so that’s the way I played it and it’s brilliant to play someone that’s exactly who I’m not.

Tell us about your character, Sachin?

So, Sachin is Ranesh’s dad. Ranesh has got engaged to Evie and he’s not told his dad yet and they want to impress Sachin, so they try to pretend to be things that they’re not which is hilarious because we pretty much all do that at some point in our lives. Trying to impress someone or just be… pretentious is the wrong word, Sachin is pretentious! As it turns out, he’s probably being something he’s not as well which is the ultimate irony.

How different was Sachin to play from previous roles that you’ve had?

I love playing Sachin because he’s very different from anyone I’ve played. Even just little things like he wouldn’t make eye contact with you when he’s speaking to you, there’d be something more interesting over there – a possible installation. I don’t think I’ve ever played a character that is that arrogant, I love his clothes though. He’s kind of got that understated, expensive thing. He wears a bandana. This is true. I’ve got a bandana; I’ve got four or five bandanas at home. They’ve been on my neck and then straight off because I’m not getting away with that. So, Sachin goes with it, so that’s been lovely actually.

What will you take away from your time playing Sachin?

My main takeaway from working on Dinosaur is that my actual glasses are far too big for me. Sachin with his tiny glasses and I would’ve walked past them in Specsavers. I’m looking at smaller glasses now, game changer.

How does it feel to be a part of the show?

I was very chuffed to be asked to be involved in Dinosaur. I feel it’s very different to lots of stuff that’s come out of Scotland. I think especially with comedy in Scotland and, as someone that’s quite long in the tooth with Scottish comedy, it can be a bit one note tonally. This feels much more, I don’t want to say modern, but I’ve said it now, modern. In terms of the way the dialogues are, it’s beautifully written, beautifully constructed. The characters feel very new and fresh.

Do you have a favourite moment or scene within the series?

There’s a lovely scene we filmed. It was the scene where Sachin first meets Evie in a bar and they’re on a table and you’ve basically got six agendas going on and I love seeing that when there’s all these things at play. It’s almost like a game of 3D chess going on, so that’s a lot of fun to play in.

Were there any standout/funny moments from filming?

All the scenes are fun because I’m filming with old pals and new pals. They’re all lovely — except for one. I won’t tell you who… no they’re all lovely. Ashley is a brilliant brilliant stand up, it’s lovely seeing her doing this, acting. She admitted herself, she said she’s much more comfortable on a stage with a mic than doing what she’s doing, but she looks bloody natural to me. There’s a scene that we have where she does this monologue and she just absolutely nails it and you think ‘That’s coming from the heart’ as well as being a really good performer, also there’s a lot of truth there which is lovely to see. The whole cast are brilliant, really good fun, really good atmosphere on set as well, but also just to be working with people who are pals and are legends. People like Greg Hemphill and Sally Howitt who I’ve worked with down the years, and you forget that they’re legends because they’re pals as well but then working with Greg for the first time since Still Game, working with Sally with River City and then just seeing new talent.

Have you been able to improvise with your character?

We filmed a scene which was brilliant fun. So, it’s basically Sachin and Di and Ade around the table in Di and Ade’s house. Greg just started improvising some stuff and I am thankfully really good at keeping a straight face. A lot of my characters are deadpan for that reason, and I managed it but it was absolutely brilliant, he just went to some places and it was hilarious. It’s lovely to be on a set where you are encouraged to improvise, I think sometimes you just find moments and Greg found about 20 of them.

What has the filming process been like?

It’s been a really lovely atmosphere. They’ve been long days, long hot days, unseasonably hot days by the way. I’m in a full Punjabi wedding outfit and to quote Carla from Cheers when Norm says, ‘I have been known to sweat.’ And Carla says ‘We can grow rice.’ That’s how much I was sweating. Buckets. Not pleasant for anyone, but the twelve-hour days went that wee bit more quickly in the company that I was keeping. That comes from the top, that’s dripped down from production. Niamh, the director, is just such a wonderful, calming, lovely presence and that defines the atmosphere. I think I’ve been lucky down the years; I’ve heard horror stories about atmospheres on productions and I’ve thankfully not encountered it yet and this has been up there with the nicest I’ve had. Just a good bunch of people and hopefully, that will come across on screen as well.

How do you think viewers around the world will respond to Dinosaur?

There’s no reason why people from all around the world won’t love this. The themes are universal, it’s about family.

The show really showcase Glasgow, is that something that you enjoyed?

It’s just lovely to be able to showcase Scottish dialect. I feel for years, we’ve been embarrassed, there’s this cringe factor with Scottish dialect and I love the fact that you go on TikTok now, you maybe go on YouTube, and there’s Scottish people being Scottish and being themselves and that’s really important. So, hopefully that will come across. Especially with the way that we watch television, when you watch something that’s being streamed from Scandinavia or from Baltimore and actually when it comes from a place, that gives it an extra dimension, so why not celebrate that. I love the fact that someone might be sitting in Bolivia and watching this and yeah, they’ll have the subtitles on but they will learn a bit about how we speak and it’ll be a lovely wee cultural injection.

Three words to describe Dinosaur?

Funny, warm, and intelligent.

About Dinosaur

Dinosaur (6 x 30) is a Two Brothers Pictures (Fleabag, The Tourist) production for BBC Three, BBC iPlayer and BBC Scotland in partnership with All3Media International. Dinosaur was commissioned by Jon Petrie, Director of BBC Comedy and Louise Thornton, Head of Commissioning for BBC Scotland. It is based on an original idea by Matilda Curtis. The Executive Producers are Sarah Hammond, Katie Churchill, Harry Williams, Jack Williams. Catriona Renton is Co-Executive Producer. The Director is Niamh McKeown and the Producer is Brian Coffey. The BBC Commissioning Editors are Emma Lawson and Gavin Smith.

Dinosaur will air on BBC Scotland from Sunday 14 April, BBC Three from Tuesday 16 April and BBC One from Friday 19 April.

All episodes will be available on iPlayer from Sunday 14 April. It is also available on Hulu in the US.