Jane McCarry: Age, Husband, Career and Life Now

Jane McCarry is a Scottish actress, presenter and teacher who has built a long career across television, theatre and radio. Although she has appeared in a wide range of productions, she is best known for playing Isa Drennan in the popular Scottish sitcom Still Game. Her performances as Isa helped make her one of the most recognisable faces in Scottish comedy.

McCarry has also reached a younger audience through her role as Granny Murray in the children’s television series Me Too!. More recently, she has entered a new chapter of her career as a radio presenter with STV Radio, showing that her connection with Scottish audiences extends well beyond her best-known television character.

Quick Bio of Jane McCarry

Who Is Jane McCarry?

Jane McCarry is a Scottish performer whose career has developed over several decades. Born in Glasgow in 1970, she trained as an actor at Queen Margaret University and subsequently worked across television, theatre and other areas of the performing arts. She has also worked as a teacher, making her career broader than her television appearances alone.

For many viewers, however, the name Jane McCarry immediately brings to mind Isa Drennan, the outspoken and inquisitive character she played in Still Game. The sitcom became an important part of Scottish popular culture, and McCarry’s portrayal of Isa became one of its memorable supporting performances.

Her career is particularly interesting because she has successfully moved between different types of audiences. She has appeared in adult comedy, children’s television, drama and theatre, and later expanded into radio broadcasting.

Jane McCarry Age and Early Life

Jane McCarry was born in 1970 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2026, she is 56 years old. Some online biographical databases give May 2, 1970, as her birthday, while other sources only confirm the year of birth. For that reason, the safest biographical information is that McCarry was born in 1970.

She was raised in the King’s Park area of south Glasgow and is reported to have been an only child. Growing up in Glasgow later became significant to her professional identity because much of her best-known work is strongly connected with Scottish life, humour and culture.

McCarry went on to study acting at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Her formal training gave her a foundation for a career that would eventually include television sitcoms, children’s programmes, theatre productions and radio.

Jane McCarry and Isa in Still Game

The role that transformed Jane McCarry into a household name in Scotland was Isa Drennan in Still Game.

The BBC Scotland sitcom, created around the lives of Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade, became known for its distinctive Glasgow humour and its collection of memorable characters. McCarry’s Isa was one of the show’s most recognisable personalities.

Isa is curious, outspoken and often determined to know what is happening in the lives of people around her. McCarry’s comic timing helped turn those characteristics into a character who could be funny, irritating and surprisingly warm at the same time.

According to IMDb, McCarry appeared as Isa Drennan across the show’s 2002–2019 run, with 60 credited episodes. She also reprised the character in Still Game: Live in Glasgow.

The character became so closely associated with McCarry that discussions about the actress often begin with the search phrase “Jane McCarry Isa.” Yet her career demonstrates that Isa represents only one part of her professional work.

How Jane McCarry Developed the Isa Character

One reason Isa feels authentic is that McCarry has drawn inspiration from real-life observations. Her background in Glasgow and her experience of people and communities helped her understand the type of personality represented by Isa.

Rather than treating Isa simply as a comedy stereotype, McCarry gave the character distinctive mannerisms and a strong sense of personality. That helped Isa remain memorable throughout the show’s different eras.

The success of Still Game also demonstrates how a supporting character can become an important part of a show’s identity. While Jack and Victor remained at the centre of the sitcom, characters such as Isa helped create the wider community that made Craiglang feel like a living place.

Jane McCarry in Me Too! as Granny Murray

Another major part of McCarry’s television career came through Granny Murray in Me Too!, the children’s programme.

The show focused on the parallel lives of children and their parents, with Granny Murray serving as a childminder and a source of advice. McCarry’s performance introduced her to a very different audience from the one that knew her through Scottish comedy.

Her role as Granny Murray demonstrated her versatility. The warm, reassuring character was very different from the inquisitive Isa, showing that McCarry could adapt her performance to suit younger viewers.

Jane McCarry Movies and TV Shows

Although Still Game remains her most famous credit, Jane McCarry’s acting career includes numerous other productions.

Her television and screen credits include Rab C. Nesbitt, The Baldy Man, The Tales of Para Handy, Me Too!, Nothing to Declare and The Devil’s Hour. She has also appeared in productions such as Goon, Too Rough, Keeping Mum and The Magical Beacon Stone.

One particularly notable later appearance was in the supernatural thriller series The Devil’s Hour, where she played Bella Holness. The role showed another side of her acting ability, moving away from the broad Scottish sitcom style with which many viewers associate her.

Her credits therefore cover comedy, children’s television, drama and short-form productions.

Jane McCarry’s Theatre Career

Television has made McCarry widely recognised, but theatre has remained an important part of her professional life.

She has worked with the Baldy Bane Theatre Company in Glasgow and has appeared in stage productions in Scotland. In 2012, she appeared in The Steamie at Glasgow’s King’s Theatre. She also became involved in productions of Nativity! The Musical during its Scottish run.

Theatre is significant in understanding McCarry’s career because it highlights her experience as a performer beyond the television screen. Live performance requires a different relationship with an audience, and her continued work in that environment reflects the breadth of her acting background.

Jane McCarry Husband and Personal Life

Questions about Jane McCarry’s husband are among the most common searches about her personal life, but publicly available information is not completely consistent.

Some biographical sources identify her former husband as Robert Gibson, while IMDb currently lists a spouse named Hugh and states that McCarry has two children. Because these sources disagree, it would be misleading to present one version as unquestionably established without qualification.

What is more consistently reported is that McCarry has two children, Iain and Alexander. Public interviews have also discussed her family life in connection with her work and the way her children viewed her fame from Still Game.

McCarry has generally kept her private life relatively separate from her public career. As a result, information about her family should be treated carefully and should not be confused with unverified claims appearing on entertainment websites.

Jane McCarry Children

Jane McCarry has two children, Iain and Alexander.

Her experience as a mother has occasionally appeared in interviews about her career. Her children grew up with the unusual experience of seeing their mother become widely recognised through Still Game. The popularity of the programme meant that Isa became familiar to generations of Scottish viewers.

This has also contributed to the curiosity surrounding searches for Jane McCarry children. However, the publicly available information about her sons is limited, reflecting McCarry’s preference to keep family matters relatively private.

Jane McCarry Now

For people searching “Jane McCarry now,” one of the most important developments is her move into radio.

In October 2025, STV announced that McCarry would join STV Radio as a regular presenter. She was paired with radio presenter Micky Gavin for a Saturday morning programme called Micky and McCarry. The show launched as part of STV Radio’s new presenting line-up in early 2026.

The programme gives McCarry an opportunity to connect with audiences in a different format. Rather than acting as a fictional character, she can use her own personality, humour and conversational style.

According to STV’s published schedule, Micky and McCarry airs on Saturday mornings from 9am to noon. The programme covers events happening around Scotland, including gigs, festivals, community events and television recommendations.

This is an important development because it demonstrates that McCarry remains active in Scottish entertainment more than two decades after Still Game first appeared.

Why Jane McCarry Remains Popular

Jane McCarry’s popularity comes from more than a single successful role.

First, Isa Drennan became an iconic Scottish television character. Secondly, McCarry demonstrated versatility through Me Too! and her theatre work. Thirdly, she has continued finding new ways to communicate with audiences.

Her transition to radio is particularly interesting because it allows audiences to experience McCarry herself rather than simply one of the characters she has played.

There is also a strong sense of Scottish identity running through much of her career. From Glasgow-based comedy to Scottish theatre and now a national Scottish radio station, McCarry has remained closely connected with the country’s entertainment culture.

Jane McCarry Career Highlights

A simple overview of her career shows how varied her work has been:

• Born in Glasgow in 1970.
• Trained as an actor at Queen Margaret University.
• Developed a career in television and theatre.
• Appeared in Rab C. Nesbitt and The Baldy Man.
• Played Granny Murray in Me Too!.
• Became widely known as Isa Drennan in Still Game.
• Returned as Isa during the show’s later revival.
• Appeared in Still Game: Live in Glasgow.
• Worked in theatre productions including The Steamie.
• Appeared in The Devil’s Hour.
• Continued working across stage and screen.
• Joined STV Radio in 2026 as co-presenter of Micky and McCarry.

Final Thoughts on Jane McCarry

Jane McCarry has built a career that extends well beyond her famous role as Isa Drennan. From her early work in Scottish television and theatre to Granny Murray in Me Too! and her long association with Still Game, she has demonstrated considerable versatility as a performer. Her move into radio with STV’s Micky and McCarry also shows that she remains an active presence in Scottish entertainment. For readers discovering her career for the first time, Jane McCarry is best understood not simply as the actress who played Isa, but as a long-established Scottish performer whose work spans television, theatre, teaching and broadcasting. Readers interested in celebrity biographies and entertainment stories can find more such profiles on Globe Gist.

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