Jack Docherty in The Chief: No Apologies

★★★☆☆     Familiar

Traverse Theatre: Wed 22 – Fri 24 Apr 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson

The Gilded Balloon’s touring Jack Docherty in The Chief: No Apologies at the Traverse is an enjoyable outing for a character with a considerable following. If the show ends up being a little formulaic, a huge performance makes up for it.

Docherty’s comic creation, the self-important Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson, started off in the very funny BBC Scotland police mockumentary Scot Squad. In a later spin-off, The Chief was shown writing his autobiography, and the current stage show is framed as a tour launching that book.

Jack Docherty as Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson. Pic: Gilded Balloon.

The fictional autobiography No Apologies is described as “his unique personal story of how a white, middle-class, public school educated boy from Edinburgh somehow overcame all the odds to become the Chief Commissioner of The Scottish Police Force”. Which gives you a good idea of the character if you’re not familiar with it.

Essentially he is horribly entitled, temperamentally still very much wedded to ‘old school’ policing methods, and has all the self-awareness of a brick.

It’s a monstrous, oddly likeable and very funny creation, a kind of Corstorphine Alan Partridge who worked brilliantly in small doses in the original programme. However, the spin-off series about the Chief indicated what is reinforced in the stage show – that a little of the character goes a long way, and when he is left to carry things on his own Miekelson’s boorishness becomes a little tiresome.

it is all done skilfully

The comparison with Partridge is an instructive one. Steve Coogan was smart enough to realise that his character needed more nuance and back story as it developed, and required strong supporting characters to back him up and bounce off. Here we just get the Chief, and while it is all done skilfully, it doesn’t quite fill a full-length stage show. While there is some background given to the character, it is not really developed, and will largely be familiar to TV viewers.

Jack Docherty in The Chief: No Apologies. Pic: Gilded Balloon.

Anyone who has seen those various shows will also be familiar with much of the material. While there are topical gags about football, fires in Glasgow and Scottish politics, there is also a great deal of repetition and too many gags that rely on easy laughs about ‘wokeness’. The targets are often too obvious for there to be any real satirical bite. In the end, it’s all a bit safe; there is a huge audience for this, they know what they want, and they are certainly going to get it.

The feeling that this is really a couple of sketches extended far beyond their natural lifespan is allayed by the quality of Docherty’s performance. There is a ridiculous amount of energy, he is fully committed to the character, and the comic knowhow is obvious. Docherty is excellent at building up a rapport with the audience, and there are more examples of exquisite timing than you could count.

undoubtedly crowd-pleasing

Whether channelling Freddie Mercury, displaying supernatural policing powers or indulging in sub-Irvine Welsh ‘radge’ speak, there can be no denying his presence or ability. However – while it is all undoubtedly crowd-pleasing – the edge of melancholy that made previous Docherty solo pieces so interesting is sadly missed.

This is really best understood as an extended piece of character comedy; while there is an underlying structure, it is a series of set pieces rather than a coherent whole. It is very funny, however, and dispatched with real glee.

Running time: One hour and 50 minutes (including one interval)
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED
Wednesday 22 – Friday 24 April 2026
Evenings: 7.30 pm
Tickets and details: Book here.

The Chief: No Apologies on tour in 2026:

Jack Docherty in The Chief: No Apologies. Pic: Gilded Balloon.

ENDS

Tags: Comedy, Gilded Balloon, Hugh Simpson, Jack Docherty, Review, The Chief: No Apologies, Theatre, Traverse Theatre