An independent Scotland within Europe is something that is very attractive for me. It will be a much happier place to be than an isolated England

think politically it is going to be really, really interesting what happens in the next couple of years.

“I have made no secret about my views. I very much hope that independence happens. An independent Scotland within Europe is something that is very attractive for me. Living within that will make a difference and will be a much happier place to be than an isolated England.

“Once the boys go to secondary school and we make the big decision about that six-year period and where they are going to be educated, Scotland becomes increasingly attractive every year.”

Bowman was born in Dundee and grew up in Newport-on-Tay until his mother died when he was 12. He then became a boarder at Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire.

“My mum was divorced from my dad when I was four, so we – my brother and I – lived with her,” he recalls. “When she died we had nowhere to go, but her life insurance gave us the ability to go to boarding school.”

That must have been tough at 12? “It wasn’t ideal, no, but you just deal with it when you have no option. It gave me an independence quite early on and a thick skin. There is not much going to scare you after that, which has probably stood me in good stead for this industry.”

It was at Dollar Academy that Bowman fell in love with acting, although his English teacher who ran the school plays suggested that he might not have the work ethic for the profession.

“I was quite a naughty boy and he said I would need to knuckle down an awful lot more,” says Bowman. “I put it out of my mind and did business studies for a couple of years. But it was still there, an itch in the back of my head.”

He got a job as an assistant manager of a precast concrete firm in Monifieth, Angus. They offered him a promotion in Dundee. “I thought: ‘No, this isn’t the life for me …’” And in Bowman parlance he ran away “to join the circus”.

Said circus was the Edinburgh International Festival. “I went around all the theatres asking for a job,” he says. “The Lyceum gave me a job front of house.” It was there he met the late Billy McColl, who was playing Jimmy Boyle in a production. McColl encouraged him to give acting a go.

“He came in an hour early every day to help me with speeches for drama college.” There’s a crack in his voice, Bowman sounding choked up at the memory. “I will always be appreciative of Billy McColl for all the time he gave me. I got into the college that he went to – Mountview Theatre School.”

In the three decades since, Bowman has garnered a packed CV that includes a fruitful stage career, a raft of TV parts (everything from The Bill and A Touch of Frost to Case Histories) and a healthy smattering of film roles in the likes of Young Adam, Slow West and Sunset Song.

Taggart is a rite of passage for any Scottish actor and a quick glance at his IMDb page reveals that Bowman has appeared in the police drama no fewer than five times.

“I played a policeman, I was a gang leader – Brian McCardie and I had battles on the mean streets of Glasgow – then was I a drug dealer? God, I can’t remember. It is a while back now,” he laughs. “They kept me in gainful employment with Taggart.”