IF he'd written it, he'd have included it in an episode of How Not To Live Your Life. But when Dan Clark was harangued by a drunk in a wheelchair in Glasgow's city centre, it wasn't scripted.

Dan, who writes and stars in the offbeat BBC3 series, was filming at night when he had the sort of encounter his onscreen alter ego would have used as a jumping off point for one of the surreal fights of fantasy which have made his show so popular.

As fans will know, he plays Don, an aimless 29-year-old who struggles to navigate his way through the basics of life and who is constantly distracted by his wayward mind's playing out of scenes of things he shouldn't do or say.

And, thankfully, it was Dan who was harangued by the late night reveller and not Don. He says: "We film the series in Glasgow, which is something not a lot of people realise.

"I had folks coming up to me all the time when we were filming asking if they could have their photograph taken - none of them realised the show was filmed in Glasgow and were really surprised to see me.

"We actually use the studio set down at Dumbarton and have used the streets in River City a few times. But we have to film it from certain angles so people don't realise that it's River City.

"But when we went out into town, especially when we were filming scenes at night, we had loads of strange men coming by and shouting at us.

"One time a guy in a wheelchair started shouting abuse and an entire crew of 30 people were too scared to do anything. That's how scary this guy was - a guy in a wheelchair...

"I used to have this image of Glasgow as 'See You Jimmy', really a place to be terrified of. But when I did my first live gig here, I realised the live audience was rowdy, but in a good way.

"It's much more fun to play to than somewhere down south like Tunbridge Wells where everyone's subdued and not interested in participation."

Like many actors who're parachuted into Glasgow to work at the Dumbarton studios, in accordance with the BBC Trust's findings that more use should be made of the corporation's regional facilities, Dan has had crash courses in the culinary culture of the city.

And he trots off names like Cafe India, Gandolfi and Sarti like the rest of them.

"We don't have a lot of time to actually go out and explore the city when we're filming so we just end eating lots," he says.

"Besides, you can't really turn up on a film set with a hangover."

He was similarly taken with the city's architecture, comparing the area of renovated warehouses by the River Clyde to New York, and was frequently fascinated by the thick Weegie brogue spoken by his two props men.

He says: " These two guys are in their sixties - one's a Celtic fan the other a Rangers fan. They've worked together for 30 years and it was great listening to them. I can barely understand them but it's funny how football can very quickly draw people into a serious discussion."

He might think Glasgow's riverside architecture echoes that of the lower west side of Manhattan, but the signs are he'll be swapping the Clyde for Stateside before too long.

He is in negotiations with the suits of American network broadcasters NBC, with a view to making an American version of the series.

He says: "I had a conference last week with the bigwigs at NBC - who also remade the Office and brought Friends and 30 Rock to TV. They really don't like that British humility thing, and so I've had to get used to telling them that the series is brilliant, hilarious.

"But my least favourite thing is describing my own work. I'm so typically British about it, I get all humble. But the Americans have this optimism about everything and it's interesting learning that from them.

"In America, they want to believe it's the next big thing that will make a lot of money until it fails, and then they never want to hear from you again. We're still in the optimism phase just now, which is a nice place to be."

Although currently promoting the third series of How Not To Live Your Life, which starts on BBC3 this week, he's already in discussions with one of the producers from American hit comedy My Name is Earl about the American reworking.

He says: "We chose her because My Name is Earl is about a lead character who is morally ambiguous too, so there are some similarities with him and Don. It's about making an anti-hero work for the American audience.

"But we also have to consider that they make 20 pilots a year, so the odds aren't what you'd call amazing.

"But everyone keeps telling us the format of the show lends itself well to American comedy. One of the guys we're working with now is always saying that I'm a Jewish comedian who just doesn't realise he's Jewish.

"He thinks my character Don has a lot of Larry David and Woody Allen type neuroses, but in no way am I comparing myself with them."

The son of "working class publicans in Kent", Dan didn't follow the route taken by many of his contemporaries.

He left school, messed around for a while doing painting and decorating jobs and pulling pints in bars, before writing a play with one of his mates. They took it to the Edinburgh Festival, put it on in a tiny venue "to about three people" and got the bug. Since then he's picked up various acting parts but has no regret about his lack of training.

He says: "I know a lot of people who went to drama school and have come out homogenised - they've been turned into acting soldiers."

So what can fans of the series - and there are now a considerable number of them - expect from the third run? A double bill kick-o , a Christmas special and a guest appearance from Noel 'Mighty Boosh' Fielding for starters.

He says: "I've been mates with Noel Fielding for about 10 years and I asked him if he'd be in it. He agreed but wanted it to be something different for him, like a black athlete. I thought that was a step too far. But instead he's a corporate head-hunting guy who wears power braces - a Gordon Gekko from Wall Street kind of character.

"He's unrecogniseable. We're still editing it, right up to the last minute but it feels like the best work we've done."

How Not To Live Your Life BBC3, Monday, 10.30pms