JIMMY CHISHOLM says the Old Goat pub looked so welcoming during filming of a new BBC Scotland comedy series in Glencoe earlier this year that passers-by stopped and tried to come in and order lunch.

The traditional whitewashed cottage where the laughs revolve around in Mountain Goats was transformed into a Highland pub by a talented team of set designers.

Jimmy was amazed at the number of people who wanted to stop by.

"The exterior of the pub is a house in Glencoe, they just tarted up the outside to make it look like a pub," he explains.

"We had lots of people stopping because it looked so inviting. The team wanted it to look really remote, it's the only place anyone is going to go to and there is very rarely a lot of people in it unless it's summer and there's a few hillwalkers passing by and drop in for a cup of tea."

The new six-part comedy is set around a ragtag group of mountain rescue volunteers who spend a lot of their time in the pub. Among the regulars are Jimmy, played by Chisholm, an old school mountain goat with a fag burn in his jumper and a glint of mischief in his bloodshot eyes; the wild and mysterious Bill, played by David Ireland; Bernie, played by Kathryn Howden, the cheery, hard-working woman who keeps the others on the straight and narrow; and Conor, played by Kevin Mains, a handsome, easy-going young man who is more than a little bit naive.

The Old Goat is run by landlady is Jules, played by Sharon Rooney, a formidable force of nature.

Writer Donald McLeary said he wanted to create a TV sitcom for veteran actor Jimmy after working with him on the National Theatre of Scotland show Appointment with the Wicker Man. A year later he had written a pilot.

"He said the BBC were interested and wanted to do it on stage first as part of a showcase. So we did that at the Citizens Theatre, the people from London came up and had a look and liked it and commissioned a series," says Jimmy.

"I've been involved from the start, which is amazing. It's all thanks to Donnie.

"It's very difficult to get into television these days unless you're already in television. It was down to Donnie's loyalty."

Jimmy revelled in his boisterous, larger-than-life character.

"There's nothing not to like about Jimmy, I think we've all got loud uncles exactly like him who say the wrong things at family parties and are always the one your mum tells you stories about when they were younger," he laughs.

"He reminds me of so many of these characters I've been warned about my whole life and I'm delighted to be able to play one of them."

Filming around Glasgow and in Glencoe, it is one of the most enjoyable jobs Jimmy says he has done.

That's quite something in a career that has spanned xx decades and included ghghgh as well as TV favourite Take the High Road.

The dramatic Highland scenery of some of the shots might have taken Jimmy back to his High Road days, getting out on the hills reminded the actor of his previous life as as assistant gamekeeper.

"It involved quite a lot of walking whether you felt like doing it or not. We did deer stalking, grouse shooting and a lot of salmon fishing on the estate. I loved it," he says.

Mountain Goats, August 14, BBC One