Shetland is set to make a welcome return to TV screens on 6 November with a ninth series. The hit BBC show hasn’t been on screens for almost a year, but it has already been confirmed that a 10th season is in the works.
The ninth instalment of Shetland will see fan favourite Ashley Jensen back as leading lady DI Ruth Calder, following the departure of DI Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall).
Ashley is joined by Scottish actress Alison O’Donnell, who plays DS Alison McIntosh, as well as The Responder’s Ian Hart and Aquaman actor Vincent Regan. Other cast members include Lewis Howden, Anne Kidd and Steven Robertson.
Ashley has opened up about her character deciding to head back to Shetland and put down some roots, having predicted DI Calder would go back to London after the last series.
Teasing what’s to come, the actress said: “Calder’s decided to return to Shetland because it almost felt like there was unfinished business there, or a sort of magnetic draw back home. She’s there to find out who she is which, I think, goes against all her previous instincts.
“When she first came back during the last series, she thought that she’d be there to solve the case and then get away and get back to London, back to her life. But she’s experiencing that thing where home sometimes draws you back.”
Ashley went on to talk about her excitement at heading back to Shetland for filming. She revealed the location “envelops” you upon landing, describing it as “breathtaking”.
“I was very excited to be getting on the wee plane off to Shetland again with my half a cup of tea and my caramel wafer…half a cup of tea, because there’s often turbulence and you can’t get a full cup of tea because it’ll spill, which I thought was quite funny,” she revealed.
Ashley added: “As soon as you touch down, Shetland kind of envelops you. It’s the whole landscape, I mean the real star of the show is Shetland and the Shetland Isles…it’s an inimitable place. It’s like nowhere I’ve ever been before. It’s a landscape that’s arresting and breathtaking…it’s just a real privilege to be able to go back there.”
She revealed that she soaked up every bit of Shetland the first time she ever visited, as she was unsure if she’d ever return to the location following the first series of the BBC show. Ashley added: “Obviously, when I did my first series, I didn’t know whether I was ever going to go back there, so I felt like I had to rush around buying Shetland jumpers and puffin poo and things like that, just in case.”
Shetland season nine premieres on Wednesday, November 6, at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.