She’s only 12-years-old but hilarious Stevie Miller is on her way to becoming a comedy star – just like her mum Gayle Telfer Stevens.
The bubbly schoolgirl, who has perfect comic timing and brilliant facial expressions, is set to appear in new BBC Scotland sketch show series Stevens & McCarthy.
Stevie, who is in first year at high school, stars in several of the side-splitting skits alongside her mum and Scot Squad actress Louise McCarthy.
The youngster, who has scored an audition for the new Harry Potter TV series, said: “I had the best time filming and doing the sketches with my mum and Louise. They are just so funny and I just took my cues from them.
“My mum has always been really funny but she says I am funnier so I guess it must run in the family. I don’t try to be funny it just seems to happen.
“I just love being on a TV set and watching everything that is going on. Being part of the show has been a brilliant opportunity for me and I would love to do it again.
“I would love to be a comedy actress like my mum but she says I should get a real job like an accountant or a radio producer so we will just have to wait and see.”
Stevie, who has been attending the Theatre School of Scotland since she was 10, added: “I have loved watching my mum on telly over the years. I think she is a really good actress and comedian.
“I was only three when she started on River City and I used to watch it with my dad. I am now old enough to help her with her lines which is a lot of fun. I am very proud of her.”
Gayle, 43, who has appeared in Scot Squad, is also proud of Stevie and says she is far quicker with the comic quips than her.
The flame-haired actress, who has played Shieldinch’s Caitlin McLean since 2015, said: “Stevie is very natural and calm in front of the camera and she is way quicker and funnier than me. In fact she has funny bones.
“She gets it from her dad rather than me. He is one of the funniest people I know and when I tell him an idea for a sketch he has a much better one.
“I could not be prouder of Stevie. She did it all herself. I did not push her to do anything. She learned all her lines, turned up on set, did the gig and that was it.
“I had only written her into a couple of sketches but the production team wanted her to do more as she took to it so easily. Her work ethic for someone so young is incredible and she wasn’t fazed by all the shouting on set.
“I let Louise do most of the sketches with Stevie as no child wants to do skits with their mum. I wanted her to have fun and not feel like I was hanging over her.”
Gayle, who met pal Louise at a musical cabaret theatre night at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre in 2011, added: “Stevie is so used to living in a crazy world of comedy. It’s her life. There have been days when I have rocked up to school in full costume from some sketch I have been doing and she doesn’t bat an eyelid.
“If someone had put a camera on me at 12 I would have been loud and in your face but she’s just herself and takes it all in her stride. She has great comic timing and talent in abundance but I don’t know whether I would be up for her going into show business full time as it is a hard gig.”
The new four part series of Stevens & McCarthy, which starts on BBC One Scotland on Monday, was commissioned following the success of two fifteen minute shorts which went out on BBC iPlayer in 2021.
It has been written by Gayle and Louise, whose comedy theatre show The Dolls has proved a nationwide hit, and features an array of sketches, spoofs, skits and songs.
From characters like B Cardi and Big Diddies and the squeamish paramedics to the slut dropping mums and limited edition Scottish Barbies – the female led series has been a long time coming.
Gayle, who grew up in Renton, Dunbartonshire, said: “I’m really proud of the fact they have given a sketch show to women. This is something that has not been done since the 1990s. The last female led sketch show was Karen Dunbar.
“Sketch shows like Chewin’ the Fat and Only An Excuse were predominantly male led. This is pretty much an all-girl team here and we are so thrilled to bring this girl power energy to your screens.
“We are doing it for the girls and female humour. Women don’t laugh at the same things as men. They used to say men were in charge of the remote control. Today women watch their own TV in a different room with their own remote so this is for them.”
Gayle, whose partner Jack is a painter and decorator, added: “We’ve taken inspiration from Ab Fab, Roseanne, French & Saunders to create some amazingly bonkers characters people are going to go.
“One of my favourites is Coco Loco – the girl everyone knows who takes a sip of blue WKD and is out the game and then there is the housewife who gets turned on by her audio book hero who empties the dishwasher and does the ironing.
“We were a wee bit worried we would get arrested for the roll van ladies who make a lots of sexually charged innuendos to one of their male customers.
“In a time when super fast Tik Tok videos are all the rage it’s nice to have a show with funny identifiable and relatable characters folk can take to their heart and a good auld sing-a-long thrown in for good measure.”
Gayle, who has appeared in Doctor Who, Waterloo Road and the movie adaptation of musical Sunshine on Leith, hopes this will be the first of many series of Stevens & McCarthy.
She said: “I’m hoping viewers will want to see more as it really has something for everyone. I think if you give it a swatch you are going to love it.
“How cool would it to do a similar sketch show for kids? I think they would love it. Of course it couldn’t be as bawdy or suggestive but the premise could still be the same.
“I would be up for that and I think Stevie would too. I would love to act alongside her again. She’s my wee star.”
Stevens & McCarthy starts on BBC One Scotland on Monday, October 7 at 10.40pm. All episodes will also be on BBC iPlayer from October 7.
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