RETURN OF THE MACK
Take The High Road star is delighted show is back on TV.. but she won’t be tuning in
With her range of signature hats and busybody ways, Mrs Mack was a soap legend on Take The High Road.
The battleaxe kept fans of the much-loved show hooked with her antics and became a familiar face on our screens for 20 years.
Now all episodes of the soap, set in the fictional village of Glendarroch, are being shown again on the STV Player and have given the station a huge rise in viewers as thousands of people tune in to relive the programme.
But the actress who played her, Gwyneth Guthrie, isn’t one of them.
Now 83 and living in Dundonald, Ayrshire, Gwyneth said she’s never watched herself on screen in the gentle, rural soap and doesn’t plan to start now.
Gwyneth said: “I’ve never watched myself because I know myself and I just thought, ‘ That’s not for me.’
“But it’s an honour that it’s back on. It’s lovely that people enjoy it so much. I’m so pleased – it means it’s got a longer life than I realised and does our country no harm.”
Her daughter, Debbie Love, said: “Mum was always quite critical of herself so wouldn’t watch herself. She enjoyed the process but doesn’t particularly like to watch herself. She never had a big ego.”
Gwyneth added: “If you’ve got a big ego, there isn’t room to bring in the characters.”
Despite it being 17 years since the soap ended, she still receives letters from fans across the world – receiving one from Switzerland only months ago.
She also had the royal seal of approval . The Queen and late Queen Mother were avid viewers and Gwyneth met the Queen when she visited STV.
She said: “She was wonderful company and we laughed and laughed. She said, ‘Do you sometimes have a little sweetie out of Blair’s store?’ I said, ‘Oh yes.’ She was so laid back and lovely. It was a thrill that went up my spine to meet her.
“The Queen Mum also really enjoyed it and watched it when in Scotland. She was so proud of Scotland. I went to a couple of garden parties and met her.
“It was a good advert for Scotland as it showed what a beautiful place it is and has given people a lot of happiness.”
The soap was sold all over
the world and was a tourism boost for Scotland long before Outlander showcased the scenery.
The village of Glendarroch may have been fictional but all the outside scenes were filmed in Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond.
Over the years, Gwyneth has worked alongside some big names who appeared in Take The High Road – renamed High Road in 1994. She has stayed in touch with many of them.
Joe McFadden cut his acting teeth there as a teenager. Gwyneth remembers him fondly. She said: “Joseph was a lovely-natured and he is to this day. He is terribly kind and was even as a wee boy of 14.
“Gary Hollywood is lovely and makes me laugh all the time. He was just nice company. He still emails me.
“And Jimmy Cosmo was therere as well, he’s done so much.
“Alan Cumming was quite witty – he still is.
“Derek Lord played the lover boy – but he wasn’t Mrs Mack’s lover boy!”
She also played Rik Mayall’s mum in Kevin Turvey: The Man Behind the Green Door. “He was lovely,” she recalled.
And she remembers sitting next to Charlie Sheen in make-up when she had a role in his Glasgow-filmed movie Postmortem – unaware of his hellraising ways.
She said: “Charlie was lovely andnd he had a good chat with me. My character had to pull a gun on him.
“Unfortunately, during his trip he hit the papers for all the wrong reasons. I didn’t have a problem with him – but the police did on that visit.”
Gwyneth said landing the role as Mrs Mack in 1983 was a fluke as her first audition didn’t go well because she didn’t know the character was supposed to be a harridan.
She said: “My agent said they need a nice, kind, gentle person so I went along and did that. I got really cross when I was then told the person they were looking for Mrs Mack was a difficult busybody.”
But Gwyneth was determined not to give up and set off to a charity shop and bought a coat and hat she thought would suit the character and went back to ask if she could have another audition. She added: “I said, ‘Stop searching, Mrs Mack has arrived.’ It was a metamorphosis.
“The hat I found was a real cracker. And I told them I wasn’t going to wear any make-up or lipstick.”
Mrs Mack became known for her many unflattering hats and Debbie said as a teenager her mum would ask her and her two sisters to scour charity shops for dodgy-looking hats.
Debbie said: “Whenever we were in a charity shop, we were told, ‘ Look out for bad hats,’ which was really embarrassing when you’re a teenager.”
Gwyneth admits that when the soap ended she did keep some hats as mementoes – but definitely not to wear.
She grew up in Ayr and remembers always wanting to be an actress.
But it was cemented the day she got lost while shopping with her dad in Woolworths when she was about five years old and gave her first performance.
She recalled: “This lady found me and said, ‘I think I’d better lift you up and sasay, ‘Has anyone lost a little girl?’ As she lifted me up, I started to sing On The Good Ship Lollipop and found my first audience – I was hooked.”
She worked in radio from about the age of 12, trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and is adept at different voices – from regional accents to being able to sound like a child. Her talent has seen her appear in numerous radio, theatre and TV productions over the years.
But it is her portrayal of Mrs Mack whichhih she is always remembered for.
People will still comment in her local shop that, “Mrs Mack was in today,” even though she’s always been much more glamorous in real life than her character.
She met John Borland in 1957 and the pair married two years later. They had three daughters – Karen, Debbie and Olwen. The couple were devoted to each other until John passed away in 2018.
Gwyneth said: “It was a lovely, real romance and continued to be.”
Five new episodes of Take The High Road are dropping on the STV Player every Sunday morning and it’s provided some much-needed nostalgia during lockdown. There will be 1517 episodes to enjoy.
And although she won’t be watching, Gwyneth is delighted the show is back for its loyal viewers – and has won over some new ones.
She said: “The scenery was beautiful and it was well written.
“I think it summed up a lovely era of how people lived in Scotland then and how they treated other people.”
I got really cross when I was told the person they wanted was a busybody