Hamish Macbeth

“We are entrepreneurs Lachie Jnr: what care we for the EEC?” Lachie Snr to Lachie Jnr

Filicide. Cannibalism. Substance abuse. Domestic violence. Robbery. Poaching. All at 7.15pm on a Sunday evening.

I’ll put that list into some context: following my interview with Barbara Rafferty I decided to rewatch episode one of Hamish Macbeth, ‘The Great Lochdubh Salt Robbery’. It introduces the village of Lochdubh, located somewhere on the West Coast of Scotland, where the titular local policeman tries to keep order in his own, unique, style.

Before it started the Radio Times called the series “quirky”, which is perhaps too easy a label for something as multi-layered as this.

As well as the playing out of a clever whodunnit?, surely the raison d’etre for any police drama, we are also introduced to the glorious cast who make up this ensemble piece. It’s near impossible to pick anyone as stealing the show here, although the McCrae’s do get most of the best lines (as they would continue to over the next three years).

So it’s kudos to Robert Carlyle himself for holding it all together as the Northern Constabulary’s finest, staying just on the right side of believability as the mad goings on of Lochdubh conspire to make his idyllic life just that little bit busier.

And I’ll say it again: all at 7.15pm on a Sunday night on BBC1. But it was the clever nature of the script that let them get away with it all – nothing bloodthirsty, graphic or gory about this episode, just the dawning realisation that the entire village has been eating…well that would spoil the surprise.

Special mention should go to John Grieve, in one of his last TV roles before his death in 2001. A star of stage and screen for over 50 years, it was as the canny shipman Dan MacPhail in BBC Scotland’s other enduring, yet sadly increasingly forgotton, hit series the Vital Spark in the 1970s that brought him his greatest fame. His final, lopsided, run after Alice’s car is as sad an ending as you would expect.

Twelve years on and I’m still not sure BBC Scotland has bettered Hamish. I’m now going to have to rewatch the rest of the series to fully remind myself why!

Barbara Rafferty Interview Part Two

Following part one of my two part interview with Barbara Rafferty she discusses Hamish Macbeth and The Last King of Scotland.

Hamish Macbeth

While still making Nesbitt, Barbara became part of another major Scottish export with the role of Agnes Meldrum in BBC Scotland’s Hamish Macbeth. Hamish wasn’t like other ‘cops on the box’, defying easy pigeonholing. With a first episode containing filicide, domestic violence and substance abuse, cosy teatime drama this was not.

“It was dark,” she agrees, her eyes lighting up, “and one of the best jobs ever. These fun, quirky scripts would come in from Danny Boyle, and we had some great guest actors like John Grieve and Andrew Keir”.

“At the start, the female characters were a bit underwritten, but that changed as we went on. In one episode my long-lost son turned up, played by Alistair Mackenzie [later of Monarch of the Glen], and the women had a lot more to do.

“We were hoping to sell the series to America, but they wouldn’t buy it because of the [cannabis] smoking.”.

I mention the Wild West theme of the series, most noticeable in the title sequence (sheriff’s badge and gun) and in Hamish’s love of pulp-Western novellas.

“That’s exactly how the series was set up, about the Wild West [of Scotland] – the locals were a law unto themselves. All those undercurrents were there. And I think it could have got darker. I think the BBC were a bit scared at just how dark Danny wanted to make it, so they brought in the other writers to balance it out. They were all good, but Danny had that darkness…”.

The series came to an abrupt end after three years when Robert Carlyle moved on to film roles new, but had things gone differently, the show may have lived on…

“For a long time there was talk of carrying on the series with the locals, like they did with Ballykissangel. People lived in hope for a long time, but nothing ever came of it”.

The Last King of Scotland

Now a full time cast member of Scotland’s only primetime soap, River City, Barbara is allowed time off to appear in other projects. Most recently this has included the role of James McAvoy’s mum in the Oscar and BAFTA award-winning Last King of Scotland.

“It was great to do. I first saw James McAvoy in Privates on Parade in London, where he was terribly pukka, and it was only afterwards that I realised he was Scottish. He was lovely to work with, and of course he’s a big Ella fan, and his gran is a River City fan, so they all came to say hello!”

“The producer, Andrea Calderwood, who also produced Hamish, tried so hard to get that film of the ground, and look what’s happened now…” she says, referring to its award success.

Then there’s her current role as the Baroness in the Edinburgh production of Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.

“I went to London for the audition, sang my song, and told the director I looked great in a basque!”.

With thanks to Barbara Rafferty.