A Wee Blether With...Lauren Lyle

The Scottish actress bringing DS Karen Pirie to life on ITV

- DANIELLA THEIS

What did you do to get into character?

When I first got the job, I went up to Methil, where Karen’s meant to be from, and did my own recce, wandering about listening to accents. I kept asking everyone the time, because I didn’t know what else to ask to hear their accents.

How did visiting the location influence you?

At Methill you can see the landscape and it’s just oil rig, oil rig, oil rig. It really is an industrial town. It gave me a clear sense of what Karen could be and where she came from.

The oil boom became part of the show, too, didn’t it?

Yes. In this series one of the biggest characters is an oil tycoon, and Cat Grant goes missing as the heiress to his fortune. It is not in the book that he has that job. It came from filming in Fife.