In deep TROUBLE

VINCENT REGAN on playing a fisherman whose sons come under police scrutiny in Shetland

- STEVEN PERKINS

Vincent Regan was delighted when he got the call to play mussel farmer John Harris in the latest run of BBC1 crime drama Shetland – but he was also worried viewers would immediately suspect his character was a killer! ‘I have been cast as a lot of bad guys in my time,’ chuckles Vincent, 59, whose long list of credits include Poldark, Before We Die and The Bay, as he joins TV Times for an exclusive chat. ‘I always have to play against that, because I don’t want the audience to see me and think, “Oh, it’s

How would you describe John?

He lives in a very remote part of the island, close to where the mussel beds are, and he’s lived quite an isolated but contented life with his family. Since the death of his wife two or three years ago, he’s had to be the person holding the family together, and out of that grew lots of friction with his two sons. John probably thought the way to change that dynamic and ease the tensions was to bring Annie and her son Noah into the house – but unfortunately that didn’t prove to be the case, and Patrick really took umbrage to it.

The Harrises sound like a complicated family. Did you enjoy exploring those fractured relationships?