Ashley: I’d look daft in Raisin wear
AS flamboyant TV sleuth Agatha Raisin, Scots star Ashley Jensen sports a rainbow of colourful and eye-catching outfits.
But the Emmy-nominated actress would never wear such ensembles in real life – as she would look ‘daft’ on the school run with son Francis, ten.
The 50-year-old, from Annan, Dumfriesshire, said: ‘I can see from across a room the colours and the patterns that I would wear for the character. ‘I tend not to wear high heels in real life. I tend not to wear things that are too figure-hugging.
‘But I thought it was important when you’re playing a TV detective to have almost like a silhouette with the hair, the clothes, the heels, and the bag, a sort of easily identifiable image.
‘I’d look a bit daft during the school run or walking the dog wearing clothes like that.’
Jensen, who found fame in Ricky Gervais’s award-winning sitcom Extras, has been portraying Raisin since 2014. The Sky comedy-drama is now on its third series.
But the star – known in the US as Christina on Ugly Betty – is not exactly what Agatha’s creator, MC Beaton, the pen-name of Glasgow-born author Marion Chesney, had in mind when she penned her more than 30 books about the publicist turned private detective.
The novelist, who also wrote the Hamish Macbeth series, died last year. Her titles describe the character as a stocky, chain-smoking, fur-wearing 53year-old from Birmingham.
Jensen said: ‘I found it daunting at first. Physically, I don’t look like the character, and when you’ve read a book you have your own perception of what the character’s like, and she’s described quite specifically in the books.
‘But I feel I have Marion’s blessing, kind of embodying the essence of her rather than the physical appearance.’