Interview Ford Kiernan

Field of Blood star adores his co-star Katherine Kelly, and the feeling is mutual.

Former Corrie star Katherine Kelly met her biggest fan when she joined the cast of newspaper drama The Field Of Blood.

And Ford Kiernan says he was delighted to find Katherine who spent years playing Becky McDonald was a fan of his too.

The pair are together in BBC Scotland’s new two-parter, set in a Glasgow newsroom during the 1980s.

“I’ve been a fan of hers for a long, long time,” Ford told The Sunday Post. “I don’t think I’ve missed an episode or even a scene she’s done in Corrie. And I loved her in Mr Selfridge.

“So, aye, I told her outright. It turned out that Simon Gregson, who played her husband Steve, was a Still Game fan and he’d introduced her to it as well.”

Katherine is the new editor-in-chief at the Glasgow Daily News, with David Morrissey and River City favourite Jayd Johnson also returning along with Ford from the first acclaimed Field Of Blood in 2011.

Having hung around newspaper offices as a kid, picking up money for washing cars, Ford’s very familiar with the smokey, boozy culture.

But the outfits came as a bit of a shock. “We had some horrible gear,” he reveals.

“There were these nylon trousers and shirts and everything seemed to be the colour of macaroni.

“I had some killer ties. I don’t know where they got them but they’ve had a life before.

“The locations people had their work cut out but they did a terrific job in making it 1982.

“I remember and I’m name-dropping heavily here that when I had a wee cough and a spit in Scorsese’s Gangs Of New York, every single thing in the studio was perfectly 19th Century.”

Telly life’s actually a bit of a time warp for Ford who’s just back from a Florida theme park trip with wife Lesley and kids Kaye, 14, and Sonny, 12. He’s recently finished filming an episode of 1960s-set George Gently, playing Martin Shaw’s on-screen boss.

Ford’s keeping his fingers crossed that good viewing figures for this follow-up will see the BBC keen to go ahead with a production of the third of Denise Mina’s newspaper thrillers.

But while he admits he’s enjoying testing his acting chops in dramas, he says there could be some laughter on the way.

“I’m talking to the BBC about a sitcom idea they’ve got but it’s a bit hush-hush at the moment.

“I don’t want to kybosh it by talking about it.

“It’d be nice to be able to do a bit of both comedy and drama.

“David Jason manages to stride across the two pretty well and so does Bradley Walsh with his Law And Order as well as variety and game shows.”