TRAINSPOTTING legend Robert Carlyle revealed he’s seen the first script for his return as Francis Begbie in a TV series.
The actor, 63, told how the hardman will be seen living in the US at the start of The Blade Artist.
Glasgow born Carlyle played Begbie in the 1996 film[/caption]
Its six one-hour episodes are based on author Irvine Welsh’s 2016 novel of the same name.
It sees Begbie living a quiet life in California after marrying his prison art therapist until his son’s murder brings him back to Scotland.
Glasgow-born Carlyle teased details of the project during an appearance on ITV show This Morning.
He said: “There is a piece that we’re working on at the moment called The Blade Artist which is an Irvine Welsh novel which is the further adventures of Begbie basically.
“When you join the story he has discovered art in prison and he has married his art therapist. That’s a well-trodden path in actual fact.
“He’s come out of prison and he lives in California and he’s got a life. But then he gets a phone call from home saying that his son has been murdered.
“He goes back and it spirals out of control. I cannot tell you the chaos that ensues.
“It will be a six one-hour show. We have got the first script so it’s baby steps but we are getting there.”
Carlyle said he will again don Begbie’s iconic clothing and rejected the idea that the character will be seen living as a Californian “hippy” in the series.
He added: “I wouldn’t go that far. He has still got his stay-pressed trousers and his Harrington jacket.”
Carlyle first played Begbie in Danny Boyle’s 1996 cult classic Trainspotting and returned to the role for its 2017 sequel T2: Trainspotting.
He is currently starring in a Netflix drama about one of the UK’s worst environmental scandals – the Corby poisonings.
It depicts the real-life battle of families in the Northamptonshire town whose children were born with defects.
Many reached an out-of-court settlement after Corby Borough Council admitted it had made mistakes in the clean-up of the town’s former steelworks.
