We have been loving Ashley Jensen on Shetland season nine as the island's new detective, Ruth Calder. We've been enjoying seeing Ashley back on our screens for season nine—which sees her personal and professional life blur after her partner Tosh's friend Annie goes missing, leading them to hunt for the culprit.
The star opened up about an unusual approach to her acting methods—but would you do the same thing if you were playing a TV detective? Find out here…
Chatting about prepping for season nine, Ashley explained: "I decided that I wasn’t going to find out who the murderer was. So, for the first three episodes, I felt like I was really in Calder’s shoes. I was looking at people through the character's eyes, thinking, What are you giving me?
"Then I would leave a scene and quickly look back around again, just to see if somebody was doing something they shouldn't have been behind the coppers’ backs after we'd gone! It added another element of fun for me. When I was playing the part, I wanted to be really present in every scene, to make myself look and listen to what people were saying, to see if I could solve the puzzle and, ultimately, the crime."
The actress could well have gotten some tips on how to approach a TV investigation from her husband, Vera star Kenny Doughty, who played DS Aiden Healy on the murder mystery series until leaving the show in 2023, the same year that the couple reportedly tied the knot in a secret ceremony.
Chatting about returning to make season nine, Ashley continued: "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.
"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.
"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."
The star also revealed how the cast are essentially trapped on an island while filming the show, explaining: "We're all in the same boat—it’s like being in regional theatre in the 1950s or something. We're all together at the weekends because we can't get back home.
"You’re genuinely not allowed off the isles in case the weather turns and you can't get back, which would obviously mess up filming. So there's genuinely a feeling of all being in it together."