New Mr Selfridge star Leon Ockenden reveals why he wants to move to Scotland

“I absolutely love Scotland I have ambitions to live there eventually.”

New Mr Selfridge star Leon Ockenden has told of a Waterloo Road romp that got just too steamy.

But he does offer a respectable explanation it was with his missus!

Leon has joined the new series of ITV’s period drama as Prince Serge De Bolotoff, Harry Selfridge’s new son-in-law.

But he also played PE teacher Hector Reid in the Greenock-set school drama, alongside his wife Vanessa Hehir as science teacher Sue Lowsley.

“There was a bed scene with myself and Vanessa,” Leon told The Sunday Post.

“It was a closed set but one of the script supervisors was shouting that there was too much thrashing around for a pre-watershed show!

“But it was lovely working with Vanessa. We’ve always worked on stuff to help each other for auditions so being together on screen was just an extension of that really.

“Apart from anything else, the job I was doing before was in Morocco and I was away from Vanessa and our daughter for six weeks. The fact that we were working together as a family made it a really happy time.”

Leon looks round the room at ITV in London where we’re having our chat and reveals that it’s where his love for Vanessa began.

“She was leaving Heartbeat as Rosie, just as I was going in as the doctor, and we were in this very room doing some press,” he recalls.

“We had known each other as acquaintances but on this day we had a bit of spare time just hanging round. I was flirting outrageously with her!”

Leon and Vanessa have a young daughter, Lyla, and he admits family time north of the border was a delight.

“I absolutely love Scotland I have ambitions to live there eventually.

“When we were filming during the great weather in the summer of 2013 I felt I was in God’s country. My daughter’s ginger so it felt like she belonged.

“Getting up the west coast and to the Highlands I felt I was in on some secret and didn’t understand why everybody didn’t want to live there.”

Mr Selfridge’s Serge was a real-life Russian aviator and playboy and Leon did his research.

“I found out just as much as I could,” he confirms.

“He was definitely indulged by his mother, who saw him as a golden boy. He was fascinated by flying and always wanted to be an aviator.

“He was one of the first to enter a competition to be first to cross the English Channel by plane and was someone with grand designs and ambition.

“We have an amazing flying sequence with the plane that Harry Selfridge actually used.

“A replica did repeated take-offs and landings while they set up the camera shots. Then they let the ‘hero’ plane go out there and everybody kept their fingers crossed it would land OK.”

Cornish-born Leon has had roles in just about every well-known telly drama of the past 10 years, from Midsomer Murders, Hustle and Heartbeat to Judge John Deed, New Tricks and Casualty.

But despite all his experience, he admits coming into an established drama as the new boy can still be daunting. Having Zoe Wanamaker join as his mum helped ease the nerves, though.

“We were the new kids and it was nice not to be the only one starting,” he adds.

“You’ve got a whole mix of emotions. Before getting the job I watched the first two series so I was really into it as a fan.

“You have this anxiety where you think, ‘I hope I’m not going to muck it up and drag it down my level!’

“I was blown away by the quality of the show, not just the cast but the sets and costumes. I got one of the crew to take a picture of us at big dinner scene and you’d swear we’d stepped back in time.

“They spend a week building a replica of one of the floors of Selfridges and dressing it for scenes. Then they film other stuff while they re-dress the whole thing again to look like another floor.”

Mr Selfridge, ITV, Sundays at 9pm.