Duo clean up in the festive soap stakes

Nearby, in the family home, a devious son is surreptitiously spiking his mother's favourite tipple with sleeping pills, to ensure she is not feeling 100 per cent.

At a time of goodwill, it seems Christmas for these people is going to be anything other than a quiet celebration.

But then you could hardly expect anything else for residents of Shieldinch, the fictional Glasgow suburb that is the setting for River City.

In the grand tradition of classic soap hits, the show is pulling out all the stops for its big Christmas special. But this year, the scandals in the west will be played out by two people from the east, as Edinburgh actors Billy McElhaney and Eileen McCallum take centre stage.

Despite being a born and bred Leither, Billy, 49, of Liberton, has had no trouble crossing the great divide between the Capital and its long-time rival.

"I was born and raised in Leith, but because of the show a lot of people think I have a Glasgow accent," he says. "It's just a working class Scottish accent, and it's a Scottish soap, so my character could be from anywhere. As for working there, well, I just tell people I'm doing missionary work!"

Billy is the focus of the show's big Christmas drama, as his character Jimmy turns midwife in the middle of nowhere, delivering girlfriend Scarlett's baby in the back of his taxi on December 25.

The storyline presented some unique challenges and, as someone who has no children of his own, it was a job which left Billy unusually flustered.

"I normally don't get bothered by much, but this was really hard," he said. "We used a model baby for a lot of the shots, but for a few we had two eight-week-old babies, which I had to hold up as if it had just been delivered. There were lights and cameras everywhere, and the baby was screaming its head off, naturally. It was pretty nerve-wracking."

This is Billy's first full year as a main character, and he was delighted to be told earlier in the year that he would be part of the focus for the Christmas special.

"It is a great feeling - we were told in the summer but obviously you've got to keep it quiet, as the writers put a lot of work into the stories, so you don't want to give them away."

The lifelong Hibs fan - "getting to do the half-time draw at Easter Road would probably mean more to me than a Bafta!" - initially hoped to be a footballer, but moved into acting after taking a course at Queen Margaret College. Since then he has never looked back and is eagerly waiting for the next batch of scripts to land on his doorstep.

"We should be getting them soon, and it is quite exciting, because it lets you know what's going to happen in the next year," he says. "Of course, there's always that worry that you'll be killed off or sent on a long cruise, but you just don't know."

For soap legend Eileen McCallum, who rose to fame as Isobel Blair in the long-running Take the High Road, playing a Glasgow character is second nature, despite her ties to Edinburgh.

"I was born in Glasgow, but I've lived in Edinburgh for most of my life, since I started at the Lyceum in 1965, so I do feel as though it's my home," she says.

"I don't really subscribe to that idea that there is a great rivalry between Edinburgh and Glasgow. They are both great cities, and Glasgow has its own beauty. It's just that I prefer to live in Edinburgh. I haven't been tempted to move back to Glasgow because of River City, although it is quite a long commute and there can be days when you just want to be able to get home a bit quicker."

The veteran actress, who recently turned 70, is the centre of the show's darker Christmas story, as the evil son of her character Liz drugs her to make her seem mentally unstable. It is a scenario which is likely to endear viewers to Liz, who was one of the most hated characters on the show when she first arrived last year.

"My character was vile when she first came into the show, although I think people are beginning to warm to her a bit more now, as it's my son Archie who's becoming the evil one," says Eileen. "It is a rather distressing story for Christmas Day, but it can be a difficult time, because there is so much pressure put on people to have the perfect family celebration. A lot of people have problems at that time of year."

Eileen herself plans to spend Christmas with her family, especially grandsons Milo, eight, and Daniel, four. They both suffer from the extremely rare condition Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and since the diagnosis two years ago, Eileen has been a tireless campaigner, raising awareness for the disease, petitioning the Scottish Parliament earlier this year in a bid to raise funds for research, treatment and assistance for patients and their families.

"It can be really hard, but the boys are great and so I won't give up trying to help them," she says. "Friends are great at rallying round and helping to arrange events, like the benefit concert at the Jam House in January."

And with her character not due to start filming again until February, Eileen is looking forward to enjoying her 70th birthday present - a hot-air balloon trip over the Masai Mara in Kenya.

"It's a wonderful gift - I've actually left the stage in a balloon twice in my career, but hopefully this time I'll see some animals!"

• River City Christmas Special, December 22, 8.30pm, BBC 1

AWASH WITH SOAP STARS

EDINBURGH actors have got viewers into a lather in lots of soaps over the years.

Capital-born Gareth "Gilly" Gilchrist has starred as both Archie Buchanan in River City and as pot-rattling chef Billy Taylor on the revamped version of Crossroads.

Fellow River City star Jo Cameron Brown, aka troubled granny Moira Henderson, was also born in Edinburgh, where she went to school at Sciennes Primary and Forrester High.

Former Stewart's Melville College pupil Duncan Duff returned home to Scotland to star in River City, where he was cast as hot-shot property developer Lewis Cope.

City-born actor Gordon Kennedy went from putting on charity Christmas shows at Church Hill Theatre to playing would-be sexual predator Graeme on River City.

And Claire Goose, also born in Edinburgh, got her big break in 1997 when she won the role of Tina Seabrook in hospital soap Casualty.