The Still Game actor revealed how he choked on his dinner and was spent night in hospital
A paramedic called out to the home of Still Game star Gavin Mitchell when he passed out and stopped breathing after choking on his dinner, uttered the classic line: “Look who it isnae” when he saw the Boaby the barman actor lying on the toilet floor.
Gavin, 61, told STV Radio about the Hogmanay incident that forced his partner Lindsay to “smash the door down off its hinges”.
He said: “I’d had a busy old December and was at home, sitting with my partner, chilling out. We thought we’d sit down and choose something for the telly – Paddington 2, in case you’re interested. I love Hugh Grant in that film, he’s just tremendous.
“We sat down and she’d made one of my favourites – chicken katsu curry. I took one mouthful and I started to choke.
“I ran to the toilet. I was desperately trying to unblock it and the next thing I knew, I came to and I could see this big bit of wood and I thought, ‘what’s going on?’
“I could hear her upset on two phones. I was thinking, ‘what?’ She’d smashed the door down off its hinges.
“I’d collapsed, stopped breathing and wasn’t responding. I know a lot of people were keeping their fingers crossed that I wouldn’t!”
He revealed the paramedic called out to treat him was a Still Game fan, saying: “Unbeknownst to me, the first words from the paramedic were ‘aw, look who it isnae!’ Yeah, thanks guys, that really helped!”
Posting two pictures on his Instagram on Hogmanay, fans of the comedian were shocked to see him lying in a hospital bed at Glasgow Royal Infirmary wearing a nasal cannula. The caption read: “Well 2025 you have been a cracker of highs and lows but I didn’t imagine bringing it in like this”.
But Gavin, who played Boaby in the BBC sitcom between 2002 and 2019, told STV Radio presenters Micky Gavin and Cat Harvey on their Sunday morning show that he has since made a full recovery.
