
The Chief: Filming for series two of Scottish sitcom begins
Filming is currently underway in Glasgow for the new series, which continues to offer a comedic take on the professional and personal life of the self-proclaimed 'GOAT – Greatest Of All Time – of law enforcement'.
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Jack said: 'I can't wait to once again don the uniform of Scotland's finest crime-fighting legend, law-enforcer, justice dispenser, hero, icon.
"It's a privilege to play a character as modest and handsome as Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson.
'This series, I'm delighted that Dougray Scott will be guest-starring. The Scottish public has longed to see these two giants of acting together on screen.
"Well, the wait is over. We're going toe to toe. Finally. Like DeNiro and Pacino in The Heat.'
Hollywood actor Dougray Scott – known for his roles in Mission: Impossible 2, Taken, and the crime drama Crime – will make a special cameo appearance in the new series, playing himself as he works on a personal project with the Chief.
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Scott said: 'I am very much looking forward to spending time with The Chief. He's a legend in his own lunchtime, a justice seeker of gargantuan proportions and outrageously funny…without realising it.
"I may have worked in Hollywood with A-listers, but starring alongside The Chief might be one of my most challenging roles to date.
"Joking aside, it's going to be great to work alongside Jack Docherty – I just hope I can keep a straight face!'
Returning cast members include Lorraine McIntosh as Miekelson's estranged wife Barbara, Eilidh Loan as his rebellious daughter Ellen, and police team members played by Carmen Pieraccini, Dylan Borre, and Lana Pheutan.
Sanjeev Kohli joins the ensemble as an MSP from a new government, bringing fresh political pressure to the Chief's increasingly chaotic workload.
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The series is produced by Rab Christie and directed by Iain Davidson for The Comedy Unit. Gavin Smith returns as executive producer and commissioner for BBC Scotland.
The series continues to blend workplace satire with family comedy, as Miekelson juggles the demands of policing, politics, and a dysfunctional home life, all with his signature bluster and inflated self-importance.
A broadcast date has yet to be announced, but the return of The Chief promises more irreverent humour and over-the-top antics that made the first series a favourite with audiences.
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Powys County Times
an hour ago
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Scotsman
an hour ago
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Karen Pirie: How hit TV series changed Val McDermid's character after actor's 'personal recce' of Fife town
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The producers of a hit TV series based on a book by Val McDermid changed the occupation of a key character after being inspired by an actor's 'personal recce' to Fife. Lauren Lyle, who plays detective Karen Pirie in the eponymous show, which is has just filmed its second series for ITV, said she had been inspired by a sea view from Methil, where the detective is from. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It came from being in Fife and seeing the oil rigs on the horizon,' she said, adding that she had also witnessed the ongoing impact of the 'abandoned pits' in the community. 'When I first got the job, I went up to Methil, which is where Karen's meant to be from, and did my own personal recce, wandering about listening to accents. Lauren Lyle as DS Karen Pirie in the ITV adaptation of Val McDermid's crime novels. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock 'Once you're up at Methil, you can see the landscape and it's just oil rig, oil rig, oil rig. It really is an industrial town. And it gave me such a clear sense of what Karen could be and where she came from.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ms Lyle, from Glasgow, spoke to writer Emer Kenny, who decided to change the occupation of character Sir Broderick Grant from property tycoon, as he was in McDermid's Inspector Karen Pirie series of novels, to oil magnate. The second series of the show focuses on the disappearance of oil heiress Catriona Grant and her son Adam, who were kidnapped at gunpoint in 1984. Pirie is tasked with re-opening the case. The first series was also set in Fife, reopening an historic case in St Andrews. Ms Kenny said changing Sir Broderick's occupation added an extra element to the background of the story, juxtaposing the oil and the coal mining industry. The Scottish coal mining industry, which at its peak employed 150,000 men in 500 pits across the country, was decimated in the 1980s. The miners' strikes, which began in 1984, lasted a year, plunging large swathes of the local community into poverty. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ms Kenny said: 'There wasn't that much about his [Sir Broderick's] background in the book. The property tycoon element was just how he made his money, whereas we brought the oil industry into the story a little bit more, and it gave us more to work with. 'I thought it was very interesting because the miners' strike is very present in the book and I thought it was very interesting that the North Sea oil boom was at a similar time in the 1980s.' She added: 'I just thought, thematically, to look at those two fossil fuel industries and the disparity between the wealth and then the poverty during the strike - that that could be an incredible thing to look into as a background for a story, and also the relevance of it to Fife.'


The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Karen Pirie star on pressures of hit Scottish crime drama
When ITV drama returns on July 20, nearly three years after the first series aired, the stakes are even higher for Lyle and Pirie. Read more: Pirie has been promoted to detective inspector and is responsible for an expanded team in a new adaptation of crime writer Val McDermid's best-selling series focusing on the character. In the new series, Pirie is thrust into a reopened investigation into an unsolved mystery involving one of Scotland's richest oil tycoons, played by veteran Scottish actor James Cosmo. Lauren Lyle plays recently-promoted detective inspector Karen Pirie in the ITV drama series. (Image: Mark Mainz) The case will take Pirie and her team back 40 years to the kidnapping oil heiress Catriona Grant and her son Adam outside a fish and chip shop in Fife, but are never seen again despite the sending of two chilling ransom notes. Meanwhile he is still struggling to win acceptance into what Lyle describes as 'the boys' club' within her police force, is unwilling to let her superiors know she has been in a relationship with a colleague for more than two years and seems prepared to bend the rules at work even more than before. Zach Wyatt and Lauren Lyle star in Karen Pirie. (Image: Mark Mainz) Although she had previously starred in Outlander and Vigil, Karen Pirie was the most high-profile role to date for Glasgow-born Lyle. Despite winning two BAFTA Scotland awards for her performance in that first series, which aired nearly three years ago, Lyle admitted she was 'worried' about returning to the role in the new series which was filmed across Scotland and also moves to Malta for an action-packed finale. James Cosmo stars in the new series of Karen Pirie. (Image: Mark Mainz) Taggart star John Michie is among the other special guests appearing in the new series, which sees the return of Zach Wyatt as detective sergeant Phil Parhataka, who is also Pirie's boyfriend, her series one sidekick, detective constable Jason 'Mint' Murray, played by Chris Jenks, and newcomer detective constable Isla Stark, played by Saskia Ashdown. Lyle said: 'Karen has a lot more power in this series. She is semi-in charge of everyone, which is really funny to play because she's so young. Saskia Ashdown, Lauren Lyle and Chris Jenks headed to Malta for filming part of the new series of Karen Pirie. (Image: Mark Mainz) 'There's this very funny balance we've got to try and strike where she is very good at her job, she is reliable and she gets results, but with very obscure methods. The bosses sort of hate that they have to deal with that. 'She is thrust into a huge case in this series and has a much bigger team, so it's a big step up for her. 'She does feel the pressure more. But she has got a bit more armour this time and is less afraid to break the rules than maybe she was the last time. 'There are definitely times in this series when she breaks the rules to get what she needs. I think she just thinks: 'Well, that works. Why would I not do that?' 'It feels like way more happens in this season. Every episode has way more hooks. A lot more people die and there are a lot more suspects.' Lyle got her TV breakthrough when she landed the recurring role of Marsali in time travel fantasy Outlander and went to appear in four episodes of the submarine thriller Vigil, starring alongside Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Martin Compston and Gary Lewis. Lyle said she could easily relate to Pirie's efforts to handle the pressures and responsibilities of a taking on a bigger job. She added: 'It's funny, I compare it a bit to what I felt like when I did the first series. 'I had this thing of being like: 'Can I do it? Can I actually do this role? Can Karen do it?' It was huge what she cracked in the first season. 'The first series was my first time as number one on the call sheet, and it was quite overwhelming at times, but it was really exciting and thrilling. I just wanted to do the best job I could. "I honestly didn't know how the first series would go down with me being the face of the show, but not being Hollywood-star-famous. But people just jumped in and went with it. "I think it's to do with the fact that there are lots of crime shows on TV, but pretty much all of them are about men who have drinking problems who hate everything. It's crime by a cool young person that actually understands what people want to see on TV. 'I was worried coming back to this season that I couldn't do it again. 'I was like: 'Can I still be funny and likeable, and a bit sarcastic and rude? 'It was really satisfying at how I was able to slip straight back into who she was. I think that's sort of down to the foundation of the writing, what we made in the last season and the dynamic between the characters.' The new season, which has again been adapted by a McDermid novel by screenwriter Emer Kenny, sees Pirie struggle to cope being in a relationship at work that she insists on keeping from almost all of her colleagues. Wyatt said: 'Karen and Phil do come across some difficulties when their values as police officers come into play. It causes friction in their relationship. 'Karen and Phil are both strong-willed and stubborn. They have very different ways of working. Phil is very much a straight-laced cop who wants to abide by the book. It's very important to him to move up the ranks in the right way and not skip any steps. 'The bottom line in Karen is a more talented police officer and is much more creative than Phil. I think that challenges Phil's ambition a bit and pushes him to be better, but they definitely butt heads.' Lyle said: "Karen and Phil's relationship is a couple of years down the line now, but it's still a secret at work. 'Phil really wants things to be exposed, but she is still quite nervous about that. She has never been able to be part of the boys' club. She is always having to prove herself. To jeopardise that for love feels like too much of a risk for her. 'I think Karen's under the impression that, as a woman, you can only have one or the other – a career or a home life. She's misguided in thinking she can't have both. 'Phil's a good, smart man who's willing to support her, but Karen thinks she has to choose her career to keep getting ahead. Her career gives her a sense of worth, but it can damage her love life. 'I think she's right to protect Phil because he's really good for her. It's important to have meaningful relationships, and that's what makes Karen a layered character.' More light relief is on offer from the character of Mint, who is described as "a bit of a prima donna" by Jencks. The actor said: "He is a bit more ambitious in this series. "His deluded dream is that he wants to work for MI5, so he is putting in the steps to try to make that happen. He has got ideas based on what he has seen on TV and in the movies. He thinks he should be involved in high-profile cases. "It was good for him to step up a bit and show that he can lead things and take the initiative – but I think Karen's a bit alarmed by it." Lyle added: 'Karen is blunt and direct, and I love that about her. She's not overly concerned about how she's perceived, which sometimes gets her into trouble. 'It's refreshing to play someone who says what she thinks. I also love how funny she is. There aren't many roles for women my age that balance humour, depth, and action. "Karen also gets these epic, high-stakes moments - big arrests, chase sequences, and dramatic reveals. It's rare to get to do all that in one role. As an actor, it's the dream.'