Irvine Welsh gives seal of approval to actor's Trainspotting 'Choose Life' parody for NHS

Edinburgh author Irvine Welsh has given a thumbs-up to an actor's hilarious parody of Trainspotting's iconic 'Choose Life' opening rant - reworked to poke fun at the absurdity of life in Scotland during lockdown.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Scots actor Jack Lowden, who featured in films such as Dunkirk and Fighting With My Family, shared his home-made parody in support of Masks for Scotland, a fundraiser aiming to bring PPE to those working on the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Tend to get a bit bored with Trainspotting parodies but this one is for the ?@NHS so all good," Welsh tweeted.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The clip parodies Trainspotting's famous opening scene starring Ewan McGregor as Leith heroin addict Mark Renton, but changes the words to encourage people to observe lockdown guidance.

"Choose life, choose your future, choose staying at home, choose good health, choose rubber gloves, choose swapping your favourite smelling perfume for the clinical musk of antibacterial gel," the narration reads.

"Choose watching every box set under the sun until your remote control's your best friend.

"Choose waking up on a Sunday morning and not knowing who the hell you are. Choose not even knowing if there's a Sunday morning."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The clip finishes by directing viewers to the Masks for Scotland fundraising page.

Edinburgh author Irvine Welsh.Edinburgh author Irvine Welsh.
Edinburgh author Irvine Welsh.

Lowden showed his appreciation for Welsh's tweet, replying: "Good sport".

To date, the Masks for Scotland fundraiser has raised more than £200,000.

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Joy Yates

Editorial Director

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.