Trainspotting’s Begbie is back in new Irvine Welsh story for The Big Issue – and he’s mellowed

The author of Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh, is revealing an unexpected soft side to one of his most infamous characters (PA)

The author of Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh, is revealing an unexpected soft side to one of his most infamous characters.

Psychotic hardman Francis Begbie, it turns out, has moved on from the violence of the 1993 book and its follow-up, Porno, by being rehabilitated through art and falling in love.

Welsh has written a short story featuring the character, who was brought to life by Robert Carlyle in the 1996 film adaptation of Trainspotting, for The Big Issue and newspapers around the world, to help homeless people at Christmas.