NO MEAN CAREER
..But star says Taggart is lost on youngsters
Former Taggart star Blythe Duff jokes it is “murder’ that only the grandparents of her young co-stars know her most famous role.
It has been 32 years since Blythe first became a household name starring alongside Mark McManus and James McPherson in the gritty Glasgow-based crime show.
For the next two decades, she played the role of no-nonsense detective Jackie Reid, with Taggart – and its famous catchphrase “There’s been a murder”and No Mean City theme song– a favourite with millions of fans across the world.
Since the show ended in 2011, Blythe has become one of Scotland’s most successful theatre stars and even had a surprise chart-topping music hit.
Blythe, who turns 60 later this year, said: “I was 27 when I started in Taggart so, as the years go by, it’s starting to feel like a lifetime ago that I was on the show.
“Because I work with so many young people these days, I have to explain to them what Taggart was.
“I have to tell them it was a detective programme and that I did it for 21 years.
“I was working recently with a lot of young people in Harry Potter And The Cursed Child and they would say to me, ‘Oh, my gran said it was great.’
“People often ask, ‘Can I get a photograph for my gran?’ It used to be photos for the mothers of people I was working with – but now it’s the grans.”
Blythe, one of several actors who in the 90s helped change the landscape of crime dramas with a leading female role, said she feels deeply lucky to have spent so many years working on the cult STV show.
Aside from the financial security the series brought her, the crime show was the perfect place to learn her craft.
She will always be grateful to the late McManus, who played the show’s title role Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart, for all he taught her in the early days of her career.
She said: “I learned from the master – both on screen and off. He was extraordinary.
“He had so many stories to tell and everyone loved him.
“I was lucky too because Jackie was such a good character to play. She was straight-talking, very workmanlike. I liked her and other people generally liked her, too.
“I didn’t want her to be fluffy and pink – and she certainly wasn’t.”
Blythe said being associated with such a long- running primetime show never felt “like a millstone” around her neck.
She added: “I’ve got a lot to thank Taggart for – it has given me so much in my life. I’ve never seen it as a burden.
“When it did eventually come to an end, I was prepared for it.
“I was always very clear about what my next job would be – in the theatre. And I’ve loved every minute of being on stage.”
Blythe has won theatre awards for her performances in several shows.
Her next big role sees her as court busybody Dame Dounteboir in bold new play James IV – Queen of the Fight.
The show, written by Rona Munro and directed by Laurie Sansom, is the fourth in a series of plays bringing to life four generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland.
Blythe has played different characters in the previous trilogy. The latest chapter is presented by Raw Material and Capital Theatres in association with the National Theatre of Scotland.
It launches at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre in September and goes on tour across the country until just days before her 60th birthday.
Despite her husband, former police officer Tom, looking forward to her getting her own free bus pass, she has no plans to retire.
She said: “This has been a big year for us because Tom turned 60 in March and I turn 60 in November – so we are in celebration mode.
“I’ve never really worried about mym age but that 60 to 70 period is an age when you have to get on withw your lives as you start to realisere how precious and importantim time is.
“We don’t have any grandkids,gr so this is a timeti when we can still
do things – go away for a couple of months.
“Tom will happily have me retire when I get my bus pass but I’m not there yet.”
Blythe recently found a new off- shoot to her career, when a charity single she released with former stage co- star and Red Hot Chilli Pipers musician Cammy Barnes shot to No1 on the singer- songwriter charts, with its video viewed more than a million times.
The sing le wa s a reworking of The Pogues’ festive hit Fairytale Of New York with Kirsty MacColl.
B l y t he said: “What happened was crazy. Someone I was working with on Harry Potter had put something on social media showing alternative l ines for t he s on g that were going around.
“The new lyrics said, ‘ You scumbag. You maggot. You taped over Taggart.’ “Cammy got in touch and said, ‘ I’ll record it, Blythy,’ and I told him that was fine as long as I could chime in.
“Things grew from
there and in the end a lot of people came on board with the right spirit and everything just aligned.
“We had reimagined the song as a son and mother singing and it just struck a chord with people – landing at a time when people hadn’t been able to see their family. We were tickled pink that folk got it.”
Blythe’s chart success led to her recently taking part in a songwriting retreat staged by Love and Money musician John Grant and The Bluebells’ Bobby Bluebell.
Blythe said: “The course was fantastic. Music has always been part of my life but I haven’t really given it the attention – or the time – that I could have.
“It’s given me a whole extra creative energy to tap into and who knows what may lie ahead.”
Whether Blythe’s new-found love of songwriting leads to any sort of career change or not, she has recently undergone a change of image.
She said: “I’d gone grey and over lockdown my hair went positively tartan. I decided to get it cropped and it’s been life-changing.
“My curls are gone and I don’t have to use my straighteners any more – which for a long time were my life, particularly when I was filming Taggart, and the hair and make-up team would carry them behind me everywhere.
“I can’t tell you how many times they had to try to straighten my hair by the side of the Clyde.
“People don’t recognise me anymore, which is a good thing.
“It’s been a freedom and I really enjoy that.”