Shetland’s Douglas Henshall discusses life after Jimmy Perez
The actor left his role on the drama last year after almost a decade.
Douglas Henshall announced his departure from Shetland last year after almost a decade leading the hit drama – and now, he's opened up about life after Jimmy Perez.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com at the Radio Times Covers Party last week, the Scottish actor admitted that it would likely feel "a bit weird" not playing the character anymore but also revealed he was still happy with his decision.
"I was comfortable to say goodbye to him but I think it will probably be a bit weird for a wee while," he said. "But I think he's very happy wherever he is."
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For his first post-Shetland project, Henshall will be starring in the Netflix thriller Palomino, which he filmed in Spain last year. And it sounds like production on the series was rather different from Shetland in at least one way.
"The one thing I realised is that I'd rather be too cold than too hot," he said. "Working in 42 degrees in Barcelona when you're not allowed to use the air conditioning inside, and all you're really worried about is your body temperature because you're just sweating the whole time, and thinking whatever they're getting... it doesn't matter how I say the lines all they're getting is a sweaty mess.
"Whereas regardless of how cold I was in Shetland, it didn't make much difference to the whole thing," he continued. "However Barcelona is really nice, the people that I was working with are great and if I haven't melted hopefully they'll keep me in.
Next up, he's about to start working on a film in Belfast, which he said is "about guilt and death and all that kind of stuff".
"So I'm keeping up the happy kind of vibes with the characters I play," he joked. "It's nice to be doing different things. It's also nice not to play the most decent man in the world for a wee while!"
Filming on the next season of Shetland is due to begin at the end of March, and Henshall and his former co-star Alison O'Donnell have both teased that Shetland "will be very different" following the former's exit.
Meanwhile, his replacement Ashley Jensen has teased that her "reluctant" new detective DI Ruth Calder will bring a "whole new dynamic" to the long-running series.
Additional reporting by Abby Robinson.
Shetland season 8 will air on BBC One, while season 7 is available on BBC iPlayer. Ann Cleeves's Shetland novels are available to buy now.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find something else to watch.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
