A new murder-mystery series set against the stunning Scottish backdrop of the Shetland Isles debuts on BBC One this Sunday night. Shetland is based on the novels by Ann Cleeves and stars Primeval's Douglas Henshall as lead detective Jimmy Perez.
Also starring is actor and Shetlands native Steven Robertson (Being Human, Luther) who spoke to Digital Spy about the two-part crime drama, his hopes for more Shetland and why the role of PC Sandy Wilson is a nice break from playing killers and creeps...
© BBC / ITV Studios. Shetland: Sandy Wilson (Steven Robertson)
Shetland is based on a series of books - for those unfamiliar with the novels, what is the show all about?
"This one is based on the novel Red Bones - which is actually the third novel in a quartet. They're all set in various areas of Shetland - a couple of them are real places and a couple were invented by the author [Ann Cleeves].
"Each novel takes a look at how a different small community is affected by a murder, or possibly more than one murder, and the central detective Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) has this personal backstory that he's lived away from Shetland and has now come back home.
"He's hoping to have a quieter life and protect the Shetland that he remembers so well from before he went away, so he's got this difficult balancing act of solving these horrific crimes, at the same time as trying to maintain all the things he loves about the islands."
