Martin Shaw reckons a slice of Scots silence helps him cope with the pressures of life at the top.
The Inspector George Gently actor says he’d make his forays north of the border to his Galloway croft permanent if he could and then keep in touch thanks to his favourite Sunday paper.
“I’ve never enjoyed city life,” Inspector George Gently star Martin told The Sunday Post. “I’ve always craved the isolation and quiet of the countryside.
“Some friends of mine had this very remote croft for about 10 years. When they were moving on I went and had a look and bought it on the spot.
“All the tensions fall away when I’m there. It’s where my heart is and where I’d be all the time if it was possible. I’m a walker and just sitting looking out of the window enjoying the beauty is perfectly satisfying. I’ve been there so much that the locals know me. It just feels like my home.”
Martin, who’s 68, admits that his screen copper can be “curmudgeonly” and hopes “people don’t mind him too much”.
But it’s easy to agree with the actor who’s famous for long-running roles like Judge John Deed that he’s “completely unlike myself”. And his affection for Scotland’s newspaper of the year is evident.
“May I say I enjoy your newspaper and have done since I was a small boy. I have relatives in Glasgow and Scotland is very dear to my heart. I’ve piles of The Broons and Oor Wullie annuals I used to get every single year. I’m very familiar with The Sunday Post.”
Martin’s hugely popular, Durham-based, 1960s-set detective drama is back this week.
“I love it because I’m one of the few people on set who can remember the ’60s,” he laughs. “I’m actually a kind of unofficial advisor who can spot some of the little things which can get through.”
The series has gone from strength to strength and Martin reckons that’s in no small part to the “artistic aggro” between the creative cast and writers and the cautious BBC bosses.
“We want to push the barriers, make it more realistic and challenge the audience,” adds Martin, who has become pals with co-star Lee Ingleby.
“The executives want to make it easily digestible because their measure is always going to be how high the ratings can get.
“But Lee and I have been getting them to trust the audience who we are sure are more intelligent than the bosses’ ‘risk profile’.”
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