Eric Cullen

Eric Robertson Cullen (12 July 1965 – 16 August 1996) was a Scottish actor, who was famous for his role as Wee Burney in BBC's Rab C. Nesbitt. Cullen was born with achondroplasiaa type of dwarfism.

Early life He was born to a single mother and was adopted by a family from Hamilton. He was diagnosed with achondroplasia Cullen eventually found lasting fame playing the youngest son, Wee Burney, in the first three series of Rab C. Nesbitt.

Victim of abuse Cullen was sexually abused by a violent paedophile ring from the age of thirteen, and since his condition meant that he looked much younger than he was, this abuse continued into his twenties. Once he became a successful actor, his abusers returned to extort money with menaces. As a result, he developed clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The subsequent police investigation and press coverage resulted in clinical depression when he "finally cracked under a load which had become unbearable". His nine-month prison sentence was reduced to three years' probation on appeal. Of the three men he named as his principal abusers one, Francis Currens, was jailed during Cullen's lifetime; one, Cullen's uncle Jack Williams, was jailed after his death (both of them for sexual offences including the repeated rape of young boys); and as of summer 2006 one, whom Cullen named as the ringleader, has never been prosecuted.

In an interview with the Big Issues, given a week before his death, Linda McGarvie writes: "If I die tomorrow," he said, "I want to be remembered not for being a professional victim, but for standing up against my abusers."

"When I'm gone," he joked, adopting a high theatrical accent, "all the luvvies who dropped me so quickly will come out and say what a darling I was."

Death Only a day or two before his fatal heart attack, which followed on from surgery for a twisted bowel, he had been asked to take up the role of Wee Burney again. He was however in two minds as to whether to resume his acting career or become a clinical psychologist specialising in the treatment of abuse victims; he already had a BA in psychology, and had been accepted to begin a more advanced course in forensic psychology that autumn.

Acting career Huntingtower Playfair The Camerons Govan Ghost Story Deathwatch A Kick Up the Eighties Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee Scotch & Wry Out With the Old (1993) (STV's Hogmanay Show) Rab C Nesbitt