TV & REVIEWS
Our pick of what to watch this week, plus the best podcasts and new books…
WORDS: MICHAEL DARLING, RACHEL OGDEN, ZOE WEST.
Back for its eighth series, crime drama Shetland sees Ashley Jensen join the cast as DI Ruth Calder, who returns to the Shetland Islands after 30 years away. Here, the star of Extras, Ugly Betty and After Life reveals all about her latest role…
Why does Ruth return to Shetland?
She’s called to a London crime scene for a murder that could be connected to gangland crime. The case inadvertently takes Ruth back to the Shetland Islands because the eyewitness, Ellen Quinn (Maisie Norma Seaton), is suspected of going on the run there, back to where she’s from. Calder feels an affinity with Ellen – after all, she’s a girl who ran away from her life in Shetland and started a new one in the big city.
How would you describe Ruth?
She’s formidable, she’s strong and she’s a woman in a man’s world. She resents being drawn back to Shetland, but this case makes her confront herself, her past and the things that pulled her away from her home all those years ago.
This series, Alison O’Donnell returns as Tosh, now temporary DI at Lerwick Police Station. How does she get on with Ruth?
They respect one another, but have different approaches to police work. Both are valid and, as they start to work as a team, they see their strength together, but that’s not to say that there won’t be moments when they annoy each other!
What was filming on Shetland like?
One minute we had this horizontal rain and the next, a heatwave and it was like the tropics and everyone was going wild swimming. I felt like I was on my holidays.
Were there any memorable moments?
Being in Shetland during a heatwave while wearing layers of cashmere will certainly stay with me, that’s for sure! Beyond that, the beaches and the sea were incredible but one of the things that delighted me were the sheep – who knew there are so many different types?
WHAT TO STREAM
The latest releases to watch on demand
All The Light We Cannot See
Netflix
Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie are among the stars of this four-part drama. Set in the French coastal town of Saint-Malo in World War Two, it follows the intertwining stories of a blind French girl and a German teen.
NYAD
Netflix
Annette Bening takes the lead in this biopic about sports journalist Dian
