Ashley Jensen and Alison O'Donnell are back for another series of sleuthing in the beautiful setting of the Shetland Islands as hit BBC1 crime drama Shetland season 9 arrives.
Shetland season 8 saw Ashley joining the series as DI Ruth Calder, a native Shetlander who left the islands for London when she was as a teenager. Calder had been temporarily dispatched to Shetland as part of a case she was working on for the Met Police — and because the islands held unpleasant memories for her, she was far from pleased to be back. Similarly, her working relationship with Acting DI 'Tosh' McIntosh, played by Alison, got off to a frosty start, but as they worked together on investigating the murder of Ellen Quinn, Calder began to reassess her perspective on the place where she grew up.
As the show returns for a brand-new season, there are changes afoot: Calder has decided to stick around in Shetland for the foreseeable future, and Tosh has been officially promoted to DI. But when a friend of Tosh's goes missing, the duo are set to encounter the challenges of policing a small community where everyone knows everybody else — and Tosh finds herself having to suspect her own friends of criminal behaviour.
We caught up with Ashley and Alison ahead of the new series to find out more...
Season 8 was a new start for the show following the departure of Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez. Was it very encouraging that viewers still loved it and that you got to come back and do it all over again?
Ashley: "Well, absolutely. It was very exciting to know that people stayed with it and embraced it for what it was, which was kind of the same show, but different, really."
Alison: "We had such a lovely time filming Season 8, and I think we always really believed in it, but the ultimate test is obviously how it's received. I was just so glad that we got to go again, because it felt like we were just scratching the surface really, and there was so much more to explore, so it's been great to have that chance."
Ashley: "The fact that two seasons were commissioned was a big vote of confidence for us all really — and it's always nice to have two women at the helm for a wee change!"
How is Calder feeling about being a permanent fixture on Shetland?
Ashley: "She hasn't unpacked yet! The whole kind of superobjective, if you like, of Ruth last series was to get the hell back to London and get off Shetland again, but I think there was this draw of home that some people have, where they just want to go back and settle, and re-evaluate who they are. So I think this series is almost like a pause for her — she's not committed to unpacking yet, but it's almost like 'let's see where this goes'."
How has Tosh and Calder's relationship evolved since they first met?
Alison: "Well, I think it's such a vote of confidence for this little team of coppers on this island in the middle of the ocean that this hugely experienced policewoman from London has decided to come and set up permanently with them. I think there's something really bonding about that. I don't know about you, Ashley, but I feel like it continues to be a very relatable, realistic, colleagues-style relationship; it flutters between great moments of connection and being on the same page, and moments of disagreement, but always towards this common goal. I think across the whole series, the relationship deepens."
Ashley: "It does feel quite an honest relationship. I think sometimes when they put two women together, it's a bit 'they're either going to be besties or there's going to be antagonism', and like you said, there's little bits of both. They both come into the end goal from different ways; there's a bit of 'good cop, bad cop' about us, I think, and the way we work complements each other. I think you're more of the heart, and I'm more of the practical side of things."
Will the new case in this season test that friendship?
Alison: "Yeah, there's a bit of a conflict of interest for Tosh, a bit of the personal meeting the professional. The thing about her is that I think she has a kind of unshakeable integrity; she's always going to do what's right for the case, and if that ruffles a few feathers, she's not afraid to do that. But I think that does cause a few pieces to shift in her friendship group, and maybe her perspective on what those friendships were is going to be tested. I don't want to give too much away, but I think the relationship with Calder takes on a slightly different feel too, as she's re-evaluating those other relationships."
Ashley: "And of course Tosh is a DI now, so there's an equal footing there. I loved all that stuff we had last year where Calder kept saying 'don't diminish yourself by saying "Temporary DI"' — she wasn't getting annoyed with her for the sake of it, she was getting annoyed with her for Tosh not believing in her own ability, because I think Calder can see that Tosh is absolutely capable. In fact, in a lot of ways Tosh seems to have it all, because she's got the family and the career."
Tosh is going to need emotional support since this case involves a friend. Will Calder be stepping up to support her?
Ashley: "In her own way! [laughs] I think she's been a woman in a man's world for a very long time, and also because of her background, leaving home early, she's been very independent from a young age, so she doesn't let people in easily, and she doesn't give out very much. But I think in her own way, there's a degree of support and respect there."
Alison: "Yeah, and I think what's quite nice about that is that it's always done with quite a light touch. They never hit the audience over the head with it, but there's maybe a moment before they go in somewhere where Calder will say 'are you OK? Are you up to this?'"
Ashley: "And that's as much as you're getting! [laughs]"
Alison: "But then it has so much more meaning, I think, because we're not over-egging it. Every now and again, you get a little glimpse that these two actually do have each other's backs. That emotional support is there — but I think Tosh knows better than to call on it! [laughs]"
Does the case spark tension in Tosh's relationship with her partner Donnie too?
Alison: "Yeah! It's particularly close for Donnie — they live in a small place, it's an island community, and conflict of interest is sort of a part of life there, but I don't think it's ever been this close for him particularly. He's sort of torn between his loyalty to Tosh, and wanting to support her, but also his loyalty to his friends. As I said before, she is always going to do what's right for the case, and I think sometimes that can perhaps come over as being a bit unfeeling. But again, there's a really lovely moment where Tosh and Calder have a little — very brief! — exchange in the police station about this situation, and Calder maybe helps Tosh to see it from a slightly different angle. I think what happens is Tosh is so sort of righteous about her job and doing what's required that she doubles down, which I think can happen in couples, that you get really married to your position and sometimes you can lose sight of the other person. I think it's really nice that this comes from an unexpected place; that this woman who denies her own softness is able to say 'don't forget this'."
Are you any good at predicting 'whodunnit' when you get new scripts?
Ashley: "For the first three episodes of this, I purposely said 'don't tell me who it was'."
Alison: "[laughing] Oh, I forgot about this!"
Ashley: "I was like, 'right, OK, I'm going to see if I can work out who it was' — and then the director and all the actors would start to have a conversation and I'd be like 'no, no, don't tell me!' But for me, it added this other element to it. Sometimes when I was leaving a scene, I'd look back just to see if somebody was doing something once the coppers left! That was another level for me — to the point where it woke me up at night! I'd come in to make-up in the morning going 'oh Alison, I was up for about half an hour last night trying to piece it together, this case is stressing me out!'"
Alison: "Life meets art, man!"
Ashley: "I know, I know!"
- Shetland season 9 launches on Wednesday November 6 at 9pm on BBC1. Catch up on previous series on BBC iPlayer.
