'It's like one big family': Behind the scenes as Shetland returns

Alison O'Donnell and Ashley Jensen in Shetland.

In a crowded TV crime genre market, Shetland has stood out since it first aired in 2013.

More than a decade on, and days before the ninth series airs, the show has proved to have staying power and even survived wholesale cast changes when Douglas Henshall, Mark Bonnar, Erin Armstrong and Julie Graham left at the conclusion of series seven.

Ashley Jensen joined the cast in series eight as DI Ruth Calder, teaming with Alison O’Donnell, who has been there since the beginning as Alison “Tosh” McIntosh, making Shetland one of the few TV cop shows with two female leads.

Around 100 cast and crew descend on the Shetland Isles to film each series, a huge undertaking to produce a show that is sold around the world and has proved to be a boost for the area’s tourism.

Here, P.S. speaks to three people involved in putting the show together.

Vincent Regan, guest actor

Vincent Regan, centre, joins the cast this series.

With a packed CV of big budget Hollywood movies such as 300, Troy, Clash Of The Titans and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Vincent Regan has been in huge productions but Shetland stands beside them as being equally memorable.

“Hand on heart, I can say this was the nicest crew I’ve ever worked with and it was so nice seeing people coming from the outside and watching their eyes light up, realising it was such a fun place to work,” he said. “It’s one of those shows that has found its sweet spot and has also moved seamlessly with the change of cast. I’m proud and pleased to be involved.”

Vincent plays John Harris in the new series, a born-and-bred Shetlander and fisherman, also a widower with two grown-up sons. He develops a friendship with Annie, Tosh’s friend, and invites her and her young son to stay in his house, but then she goes missing.

The role gave the Yorkshire-based Welsh actor a chance to dust off his Scottish accent again.

Vincent Regan. — Vincent Regan in Shetland.

“I did The Planman with Robbie Coltrane, God rest him, and Low Winter Sun, then Traces, so perhaps a lot of people think I’m actually Scottish! The accent has started to follow me around – I go up for jobs and they ask if I can do it in a Scottish accent and I think, um, ok. I have a lot of Scottish actor pals and there’s me giving it the accent!

“I did the Netflix show One Piece and they said they wanted me to go with the Scottish sound I make. I’m not complaining because it’s meant I’ve managed to keep working, but I must admit I’ve done a few Scottish accents in recent years.”

Vincent was working on One Piece at the same time as Shetland and another project, which made for a hectic schedule.

“I was travelling to South Africa for One Piece and to the Caribbean for a film I was doing there, so I was flying in and out of Shetland and didn’t get a lot of time to explore the island. The one day I had off, I pulled on my walking boots one beautiful morning, but within 30 minutes the clouds had gone the colour of ink, a wind blew me back and I watched horizontal rain from my window for the rest of the day!”

Lesley Abernethy, costume designer

Starting on the show from series eight, at the same time Ashley Jensen joined, allowed Lesley to give Shetland a fresh look and a revamp.

“It has a loyal following, so we didn’t want it to be a different show; we wanted to keep the feel and essence of it, and introduce Ashley but not disrupt things,” Lesley explained.

“It was also important to give Alison a more grown-up look. She’s been in the show since she was young and her character was acting DI, so we wanted to give her more confidence and authority. It’s important to build trust with the actors. I sent mood boards to Alison and Ashley before we met, they sent ideas back, and we had an initial fitting where we tried loads of different looks.

“We got used to each other, and I found out what they felt comfortable wearing. Alison’s parka has become a signature for her. I put her in practical but stylish earthy tones that blend into the landscape and make her feel at home.

“With Ashley, her character is coming from London, so it was important to make her jar with the Shetland backdrop. Her long grey coat was a nod to the grey of the city, and it felt out of place because it was wool, and too thin and long.”

Both characters embrace knitted jumpers this year, with Alison wearing Fair Isle.

“It had been avoided for a long time due to (Scandi-noir series) The Killing being so big but I was given the green light to introduce it again since enough time had passed,” Lesley said.

Another important detail is being sufficiently wrapped up for the weather. “Before her first series, Ashley was concerned about the cold so we wrapped her in lots of layers of cashmere, but we ended up having a fantastic June and she was roasting!”

Lesley has multiples of certain costumes – Ashley’s coat, for example – in case it rains heavily, but when she’s buying for guest actors, she will try to purchase from vintage shops to be more sustainable and to give the clothes a lived-in look. Anything that isn’t used is sent to charity.

Lesley, who has also worked on hit shows Karen Pirie, Guilt, Waterloo Road and Clique, added: “It’s important for the clothes to reflect the people who live up there.”

Tim Maskell, locations manager

Starting on the show as unit manager on series two and three, before becoming locations manager from series four, Tim has been faced with – and overcome – every complication possible while working on the Shetland Isles.

“One of the main things we deal with is the ever-changing weather. High winds, rain, sunshine, fog that looks like we’re filming in a Tupperware box, snow. We shoot a lot of exteriors, so have to grin and bear it,” he explained.

“We film in April and June, so daylight hours are another issue. We struggle to shoot any night scenes unless we’re working through the night, because it stays so light during the summer.

“The landscape also presents challenges. Getting all the equipment and crew to where we need them to be means we always hire pick-up trucks – almost every department has at least one – as we need to get the kit and crew from the parking area to the location. But the results you get from filming in these places are pretty fantastic on screen.”

Having worked on the show for so long, Tim has a good knowledge of the area and has a bank of possible locations stored away for when the need arises. But he also has vital local assistance.

“Davie Gardner has been with the show since the beginning,” Tim continued. “To us, he’s Mr Shetland – he knows everyone and everything. He does the vast majority of the location scouting in the lead up, then I’ll fly in for a few days and discuss things with him. He does everything, from finding the prop store and production office to sourcing action vehicles and helping the art department. I don’t think the show would be the same without him.”

New locations to look out for in this series, Tim says, include DI Calder’s cottage and Dales Voe, a decommissioning site of old oil rigs.

Over the years, he has seen the local community embrace the show.

“I think there was a little apprehension at first, not knowing what they were being let in for,” Tim said. “For the most part, locals welcome us with open arms and we rarely have a problem accessing places we want to have a look at. You get to know people and they get to know you. There’s definitely a good relationship between us. It feels like one big family when we’re out there.”

We get on like a house on fire

Forming a new crime-fighting duo after Douglas Henshall’s Jimmy Perez left the series was a daunting prospect, but the gamble has paid off with original star Alison O’Donnell and newcomer Ashley Jensen hitting it off.

Ashley, who plays Ruth Calder, said: “Working with Alison is wonderful, we get on like a house on fire. She’s one of those people where I feel as if I can’t remember not knowing her.

“One memory I have is when production brought in two stuntwomen to do a running along the beach scene for us. It was a cold, miserable sort of day, and they’d got the stunt doubles in wigs and Calder coats and Tosh jumpers. But we ran along the beach and apparently looked like we knew what we were doing, so we didn’t need the stunt people. We were like, ‘Yes!’”

Alison, who plays Tosh, said: “There was something profound about thinking the show was over and having to say an emotional goodbye to this place I’ve grown to love and which holds so many memories – and then discovering I was getting a second chance. The Isles are so much further away from the mainland than I think people realise.

“You do have a sense of being in the middle of the vast ocean, at the mercy of the elements, somehow apart in space and time. It’s magical.”

Shetland, BBC1, Wednesday, 9pm and iPlayer