Acting inspiration David Tennant...and trying not to tell him
For Lorn Macdonald, swapping lines with one of his acting heroes in a suitably memorable scene was a fitting climax to a year full of memorable moments.
The breakout star from Edinburgh had a standout 2019, winning a Scottish Bafta for best actor in Beats, an acclaimed movie about two friends in Scotland’s ’90s rave scene.
Now he’s appearing alongside David Tennant in Channel 4’s prime-time four-part drama, Deadwater Fell.
“Being another lanky Scot, David Tennant is an absolute hero of mine,” laughed 27-year-old Lorn, who also starred in the latest series of BBC’S Shetland.
“He’s someone I’ve looked up to since I was 14. I remember studying his Hamlet speech before I went in to audition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
“So to have scenes with him, including a one-on-one scene, was just another check in the column for how weirdd life has become.”
But Lorn didn’t tell the Broadchurch star he was a big fan. “I had worked on a speech to tell him all theset things, but I managedd to restrain myself,” Loorn admitted. “I thought it would be better if I jusst got on well with him asa a colleague rather thaan him thinking he was working with a big fann.
“The fact that when we were alone or waitting for the cameras to go up, and I was asking hhim what he was watchingg or telling him funny storries from past productionss, he probably got the impression I was a little bit obsessed anyway.”
Written by Grantchester’s Daisy Coulam, Deadwater
Fell is about a Scottishh community rocked byy a horrible crime.
Tennant plays Tom,, a well-liked GP in the village of Kirdarroch, where he lives with his wife, primary school teacher Kate (played by Anna Madeley), annd their three daughters. When their house before it got the green light. In a way, it was just an exercise in writing something with themes I was quite passionate about, so no one was attached. We’ve ended up with one of the most talented and incredible casts anyone could ask for.”
David said both the script and getting to film in Scotland were major draws.
“I read the first episode and was intrigued and compelled by these characters,” he said.
“I didn’t feel like I quite knew what everyone’s story was and that, of course, makes you want to know what happens next.
“Daisy created very real, very believable, characters, who had a history to them. That was immediately intriguing. And it was hugely appealing to get to spend some weeks back in Glasgow. I still have family there and