Scanlan appeared in a large number of plays and television programmes,[2] including as Dougie the ship's mate in The Tales of Para Handy[2] and Shug in Rab C.

[3] He had a major role in Two Thousand Acres of Sky, playing Gordon Macphee, the ferryboat captain.

[2] He also played the part of Duncan 'Jock' Mcevoy in Yorkshire TV's 1982 production of Airline alongside Roy Marsden and Richard Heffer.

In 2011, he performed in Sins of the Father while rehearsing Lark, Clark and the Puppet Handy.

[2] Born in Glasgow, Scotland,[4] went to St Aloysius College,[5] he was married to Barbara Rafferty, whom he met while performing Playing for Real.