Scottish Daily Mail

Er, do you think we should call for some back-up?

- By Jessica McKay

IT is a global hit in which time travel plays a key part, with the main character transporte­d from post-Second World War England to 1700s Scotland.

So it is perhaps unsurprisi­ng to see the star of fantasy adventure Outlander texting and another one of the cast using a modern umbrella as they prepare to film a re-enactment of the Battle of Culloden.

The shots were taken as production of series three began in Cumbernaul­d, Lanarkshir­e.

In one photo, dashing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser, played by Sam Heughan, is seen tapping out a message on his mobile phone while wearing a bloodied tunic and kilt.

The series – based on the novels of Diana Gabaldon – follows Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a former Second World War nurse who finds herself transporte­d back to Scotland in 1743.

She encounters Jamie and soon finds herself embroiled in the Jacobite risings.

Charles Stuart’s Jacobite forces were decisively beaten on Culloden Moor, near Inverness, by loyalist Redcoat troops.

The bloody clash was over in less than an hour and between 1,500 and 2,000 Jacobites were killed or wounded, with only 50 deaths on the Government side.

Since its release in 2014, the television version of Outlander has been hugely popular worldwide, with the first eight episodes of series one averaging more than 5.1 million viewers per episode.

It has made 36-year-old Heughan, from Balmaclell­an, Kirkcudbri­ghtshire, an internatio­nal heart-throb.

When she first saw him act, Miss Gabaldon said: ‘That man is a Scot to the bone and Jamie Fraser to the heart.’

 ??  ?? Texting: Outlander star Sam Heughan during a break in filming Umbrella group: What the well-equipped fighter carries into battle
Texting: Outlander star Sam Heughan during a break in filming Umbrella group: What the well-equipped fighter carries into battle

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