Waves of emotion

Stars Dougray Scott, Shirley Henderson and Valene Kane discuss new Scottish thriller Summerwater.

- By YOLANTHE FAWEHINMI

A REMOTE loch-side Scottish holiday cabin park is the setting for Channel 4’s latest drama.

It may look like an idyllic spot, but over the course of one rainy day, the simmering tensions between those staying there threaten to catch fire.

In the six-part series, an adaptation of Sarah Moss's 2020 novel Summerwater, each episode focuses on different inhabitants, from children and young lovers to pensioners reminiscing about their former lives.

Residents include Dougray Scott, 59, as Dr David Campbell, who's been going to Summerwater with his wife Annie (Harry Potter and Bridget Jones star Shirley Henderson) for decades. Their relationship is strained, however, as David is wracked with guilt over a past affair and is also struggling with Annie’s declining health.

Annie and David aren’t the only couple staying at Summerwater holiday park who have secrets. In another cabin, mum Justine (Valene Kane) is exhausted by family life with her husband Steve (Daniel Rigby) and has just been passed over for promotion at work, so she goes on long runs in the surrounding woods to try to calm her emotions, which are dangerously close to the surface.

Dougray’s real-life son Gabriel (who appeared alongside his dad in the second series of ITV drama Crime) is also among the cast.

Here Dougray, Shirley, 59 and 38-year-old Gangs of London star Valene discuss the show and why Scotland is the perfect location for the series.

What was the most challenging scene to film?

Valene: It was on the third of January. I had an entire day of running, and I think it was minus five or minus six at 5am.