A podcast affiliated to OH!CON, which takes places in Stornoway today (Saturday), is making waves and gaining acclaim for its unique brand of culture commentary delivered with a Hebridean flavour.
Appropriately named OH!CAST, the podcast is bringing “geek culture” to the masses and attracting some seriously big names onto its show. It promises to be “100% Hebridean” and “100% Geek” and interviews “creatives” – including Hollywood writers and actors – to find out their stories.
Co-host and producer of the popular OH!CAST, Callum Macdonald spoke with WLS about the podcast’s rise up the charts and their amazing guests who have included writers, comics, actors and even wrestlers and models.
They have included The Simpsons writer Brent Forrester and actor Doug Bradley, who played Pinhead in the Hellraiser film franchise.
OH!CAST’s promises its audience that it will be “your island gateway to geek culture, retro sci-fi and pop culture deep dives”.
It covers cult shows such as Star Trek, Red Dwarf and Buffy, retro media, indie wrestling, horror fandom, gaming throwbacks and pop‑culture commentary.
The podcast is approaching its 100th episode. Its first episode was recorded by Hereward Proops but Callum became more involved a couple of years ago after being made redundant and finding himself with the time for a passion project.
Lately, he has been “stunned” by its growing popularity.
“I can’t explain why it’s suddenly just taking off,” he said, adding that this proved it was important to “keep going and believe” until a creative project falls into place and its style becomes clear.
“You’ve got to keep plugging away at it and figure out what it is, because that was the thing for us, we didn’t know what we were doing for a while.”
OH!CAST began life as part of OH!CON and most of those involved in the podcast are also part of the comic-con, although they are independent entities.
Around a dozen people work on OH!CAST and they take turns as presenters, depending on who the guests are and which presenters have that specialist knowledge.
Looking back at some of their favourites, Callum believes their best show to date was the one with Brent Forrester, one of the writers on The Simpsons.
“He was fantastic. A very funny guy. Very warm, very personable, and it was just great to hear his stories about how it all came about.
“He was so easy to talk to and what he said about us afterwards was so nice as well.”
The team were chuffed to be told they had a “very unique” interviewing style – largely unscripted – which Forrester had found to be “so refreshing” compared to his usual panel-style experiences.
As well as liking their style, Forrester also made it clear he was touched by their genuine interest in hearing about him as a person as well as his work on The Simpsons.
Forrester said he would “love to come over” and then praised them afterwards for their “amazing” podcast editing – done by Robynne Eller and featuring clips and special effects.
It was also a real coup for the group to secure Doug Bradley – the man who played Pinhead in Hellraiser – onto the show.
Callum said they were stunned when he agreed to come on the podcast. They had sent a message six months before, asking if he would like to appear, and had forgotten about it as “90 per cent of the time you invite these folk and you don’t hear back from them”.
But then his wife got in touch, saying: “Doug would love to do the show, if you’re still interested”.
“He was the big, big one," said Callum. “We couldn’t believe.”
When he came on, Doug Bradley told them: “I just saw the word ‘Hebrides’ and I had to do it.”
It turned out he comes here on holiday quite often.
Callum said: “Bizarrely for playing an evil demon, he’s one of the loveliest guys you could ever meet. He was just saying he loves the Hebrides so much. He wants to come to OH!CON at some point as well and we’re working on it.”
The OH!CAST presenters have been frequently amazed at how lovely guests are, regardless of how wicked they might appear on screen. Another Hellraiser demon – Nick Vince who played Chatterer, “the creepiest one” – was also on the podcast.
“He was the one who gave everyone nightmares and he was the loveliest, most charming man you could ever meet in your life. He was so lovely.”
The team also do episodes were they review old shows and these are proving to be particularly popular. Four presenters came together for a recent review of Red Dwarf and this attracted more than 3,500 views on YouTube.
The podcast has been rising in the charts, recently reaching number eight in iTunes Films and Interviews. It was also named one of the Best Nerd Culture Podcasts of 2026 by the independent review site PodRanker.
Callum was in disbelief about that at first – and nearly deleted the congratulatory email because he feared its invitation to “download a badge” would launch a virus.
The rest of the team persuaded him to reply and then “lo and behold we were listed on their site”.
Callum revealed their schedule is fully booked up with guests for the next three months.
Given OH!CAST’s genuine interest in people as well as their work, these guests will surely enjoy their podcast experience as much as the listeners will.
It seems that “100% Hebridean” and “100% Geek” is a winning combination.
To find more OH!CAST episodes, visit their YouTube channel and website.
