ON THE COVER The Loch
Two highly talented actresses, stunning scenery and an ages-old myth – ITV’s new police series has plenty of depth!
The Loch Ness monster has been an enduring legend over the centuries and the beautiful, deep and dangerous waters in the dramatic landscape of the Highlands emanate awe and mystery. This provides the atmospheric backdrop for a gripping new ITV murder drama series, The Loch, which has more twists and turns than a boatload of eels!
The local community cop, DS Annie Redford, played by Laura Fraser, finds herself involved in her first murder investigation after some local kids lay the bones and guts of a dead animal on the shore to resemble a dead “Nessie”. What starts as a prank escalates into something far more serious when a human heart is found among the entrails and later the body of a local man is discovered at the foot of a mountain.
A high-flying cop, DCI Lauren Quigley, played by Siobhan Finneran, is drafted in from Glasgow and it becomes apparent that a serial killer is on the loose.
Within the tightly knit community, several local characters come under suspicion, including Annie’s husband Alan, a tour boat operator on the loch. Making matters even more difficult for Annie is the increasingly wayward behaviour of their 18-year-old daughter, Evie.
“Quigley thinks she is going to sort everything out in the space of 24 hours and then get back to the city. She doesn’t want to be there in what she considers a backwater with local police who don’t really know what they are doing,” says Siobhan.
“But every time she thinks she has sorted something in her mind, something else happens that throws everything up in the air again.”
It’s another cracking role for Siobhan (51), who is one of our busiest and most versatile of actors, having played such memorable and diverse characters as recovering alcoholic and heroin addict Clare Cawood in Happy Valley, Janice Garvey in sitcom Benidorm and lady’s maid O’Brien in Downton Abbey.
“I’ve been very lucky,” she says. “A lot
“Quigley thinks she’ll sort it out in 24 hours and get back to the city…”
of my mates in the business are not in the same position. I get recognised in public for various roles. Sometimes it’s Downton but when I was in Glasgow recently people knew me from Benidorm.”
And so, to the burning question. Does she believe in the existence of Nessie?
“That’s always difficult, isn’t it? If you’ve seen something mysterious on the Loch then you are much more likely to say, ‘Yes, I believe in Nessie.’ I keep my options open. I mean, I believe in Father Christmas!”