Ashley Jensen is taking over from Dougie Henshall as the main actor in Shetland.
The 53-year-old from Annan in Dumfries and Galloway is best known for Ricky Gervais shows Extras and After Life and internationally for Ugly Betty.
And the mum-of-one who has lived in Bath for a number of years is thrilled she’ll be spending most of the year filming back home.
She said: “I can’t wait to be working in Scotland again. I have missed it!”
Ashley has already been filming in Scotland this year - making Mayflies with Martin Compston which comes out next month on BBC One - but it was only a short shoot.
Before then she played a detective in Robert Caryle’s Scottish-made directorial debut film, The Legend of Barney Thomson.
Ashley will star as DI Ruth Calder, a native Shetlander who returns to the isles after 20 years working for the Met in London. Ruth takes on the lead detective role left vacant by DI Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) working closely with DS Alison “Tosh” McIntosh (Alison O’Donnell) and will make her debut when the series returns for it’s eighth series to BBC One and BBC iPlayer next year.
The cast and crew will begin filming in Shetland and across Scotland from the Spring.
Shetland, based on the award-winning novels by crime writer Ann Cleeves made it’s debut in 2013 with Henshall as main character Perez. But after nine years he quit at the end of this year’s seventh series and later felt “we’d murdered enough people on a small island”. He claimed he and writer David Kane had talked about finishing the show after series seven so was surprised the BBC wanted to keep it going.
Ashley, whose main job recently has been playing amateur sleuth Agatha Raisin admitted she had big boots to fill but insisted “the integrity of the show” would remain.
She said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining Shetland as DI Ruth Calder. It’s such a hugely successful show and I am aware I have very big boots to fill since the departure of DI Perez, who was very much loved by fans of the show.
“There will be a different dynamic with Ruth amongst the regular characters and a few more new interesting characters to enjoy. “However the integrity of the show and the world that has been created will remain very much in the same tone as the last seven seasons.
“It’s a real privilege to be asked to lead this show into a new chapter.”
The eight series, which will return next year will also see the return of series regulars Steven Robertson (Sandy), Lewis Howden (Billy) and Anne Kidd (Cora).
Shetland hasn’t based the last few series on any of the Cleeves books and Calder is a brand new character, not created by the novelist.
With Ashley joining it will see another TV show lead by a female cast as Calder and Alison O’Donnell’s Tosh take charge.
Gaynor Holmes, Commissioning Editor for the BBC said: “I am absolutely delighted that Ashley is joining the stellar cast of Shetland. Ashley is an immensely accomplished and well-loved actress who is known internationally and we can’t wait to welcome her into the Shetland family when filming begins in the spring.”
Shetland is loved by millions of fans on BBC One and iPlayer, with this year’s series averaging 7.2 million viewers across its run (30-day all-screens figure).
With Ashley on board - and the higher profile internationally she has thanks to After Life and Ugly Betty - it’s hoped Shetland will find an even bigger audience.
It could also see Ashley spending and maybe living back in Scotland after many years away.
Brought up in Annan by a single mum Ashley admitted she always wanted to be an actor “although I briefly dabbled with the idea of being a vet until I realised you had to stick your hand up a cow’s a***.
“I grew up in a little rural place so I had no theatre and we didn’t really have a movie theatre so television was my connection with acting.
“I used to do little radio shows, and I did impressions of the wonderful Terry Wogan. I’d have little guests that would come on, and I’d do Miss Piggy and Frank Spencer - Michael Crawford is my ultimate hero.
“He was the reason I wanted to act; I thought his performance as Frank Spencer was just genius. I love comedy when it can be physical as well as written.”
She studied drama at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh before treading the boards in London. Her first major role was back in Scotland playing the daughter of Billy Connolly’s Glasgow criminal Jo-Jo in 1993’s Down Among the Big Boys.
And while she also worked on Roughnecks about a North Sea oil platform and Two Thousand Acres of Sky her success has been down south. Her breakout role was Maggie Jacobs in Ricky Gervais post-The Office show, Extras which saw her win two British Comedy Awards and a BAFTA nomination.
She then found international fame as Christina McKinney in Ugly Betty leaving in 2009 after the show relocated from New York to Los Angeles.
By then she had son Francis, now 13 with her late husband Terence Beesley who took his own life in 2017. They had made their home in Bath which she has since put up for sale.
While best known for her comedy, Ashley can also tap into the gritty side of life. As well as Agatha Raisin and Carlyle’s Barney Thomson film she solved crimes alongside Patrick Stewart in Eleventh Hour.
And while Perez had his pea coat, Ashley will take whatever Shetland throws at her - whether that’s the physical or the weather.
The Scot, who can be seen from today (Wed) in Netflix’s Christmas on Mistletoe Farm, added: “People can’t be poised and beautiful all the time, can they?
“I’m quite confident with who I am and what I look like, and just happy that it all still works.”
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