Partick Thistle boss Jackie McNamara pens a football sitcom

Partick Thistle manager Jackie McNamara has launched a new career - as the writer of an X-rated television sitcom.

The 38-year-old has co-penned "The Therapy Room" with actor and comedy writer Francis Gilhooley.

And their show's pilot has been screened in an Edinburgh cinema as they look to attract a major broadcaster to turn it into a television series.

"I think it would be well past the watershed," said McNamara. "As you can imagine, there's a lot of swearing."

The comedy stars Billy Elliot, Orphans, Neds and Gangs Of New York actor Gary Lewis as the manager of a Barclays Premier League football club.

McNamara's actor brother, Donny, is a young player catapulted from amateur football to potential stardom in the English top flight.

And the scenes owe much to the Jags manager's own experiences in the game.

He played at full-back and in midfield for Scotland, Dunfermline Athletic, Celtic, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aberdeen, Falkirk and Thistle before taking over the manager's role with the First Division club in April.

"They were just things I had in my mind for a long time, playing football," said McNamara.

"I think a lot of players had a lot of stories over the years and it's just my way of putting them into a comedy and making characters up.

"Some people go and do a book or an autobiography. This is my way of doing things."

Gilhooley, who has acted in BBC Scotland "Still Game" sitcom about two boisterous pensioners and written for the football comedy sketch show "Only An Excuse", explained that he first met McNamara in a superstore car park.

"Jackie's a real good motivator," revealed the actor. "I think it was the next day or that afternoon and he said, 'Fran, I can come up now'.

"It is hard to be believe that we have went from that and, within 12 months, we're here and the pilot's finished."