EUGENE THERAPY

Schitt's Creek star grew up with tales of tenements from his Glaswegian mother but it took him 70 years to make a pilgrimage to his ancestral land. And he made up for lost time

- HEATHER GREENAWAY

SCHITT'S Creek patriarch Eugene Levy has spoken about his Caledonian roots after visiting his mother's homeland for the first time.

The actor's mum Rebecca Kudlats was born in Glasgow where she lived until 12 before her family emigrated.

But, despite growing up listening to her stories of life in a tenement, Eugene, 77, had never set foot in Scotland until last year while filming the second series of his hit show The Reluctant Traveller.

The dad of two, who played Johnny Rose in the award-winning Netflix sitcom Schitt's Creek, said he felt an instant connection with Glasgow, where Rebecca lived with her 11-strong family in a three-bedroom flat.

Eugene said: "My mum was born in Glasgow in the early 20th century and came over to Canada by boat when she was 12. She's no longer with us but I still have relatives in Glasgow.

"Scotland was on the initial list of possible locations for the first series of The Reluctant Traveller but I thought it would be cold, cloudy and windy and I didn't know if I wanted to spend a week in a place with no sun. I'm so glad I changed my mind for the second series and got to visit there at long last." Eugene, whose mum's Polish-Jewish family came to Scotland in the 1900s, added: "I was more touched by my visit than I thought I would be as I never really had even though she came from Scotland - a strong desire to go there as it was the place where she was born.