Shetland season nine sees DI Ruth Calder spearheading the investigation into a double missing person’s case, but what other roles has Scottish actress Ashley Jensen taken on?
BBC viewers were gutted when it was announced that DI Jimmy Perez star Douglas Henshall would be leaving the show, sparking doubts about how the drama could carry on without him.
Despite these worries, Shetland is flourishing with DI Ruth Calder (portrayed by Ashley Jensen) at the heart of the action and, most recently, the vanishing of Annie Brett (Sarah MacGillivray) and her son Noah.
Jensen is no newcomer to television, having worked on numerous high-profile series over her 34-year career.
Raised in Dumfries and schooled in drama at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University, Jensen landed her first-ever screen role in the series City Lights in 1990.
She then bagged minor roles in projects such as Screen One, Rab C Nesbitt, The Tales of Para Hardy, and Capital Lives.
Jensen’s first significant recurring role came as Heather in the 1994 oil rig drama Roughnecks.
She followed this up with appearances in Bad Boys, The Bill, Dangerfield, and Mortimer’s Law, before her two-year run on City Central in 1998 alongside actors Paul Nicholls and Dave Hill.
Other roles in EastEnders, Clocking Off Silent Witness, Casualty, and Eleventh Hour popped up, but it wasn’t until 2005 that she first collaborated with actor and comedian Ricky Gervais.
She played the role of Maggie Jacobs in the unforgettable two-season sitcom Extras, starring alongside The Office’s creator. The duo portrayed background actors hoping for their big break.
Their collaboration didn’t end there. From 2019 to 2022, she teamed up with Ricky again in his Netflix sensation After Life, playing Emma, the nurse and love interest of his character.
Jensen also had a memorable stint in the sitcom Ugly Betty, where she played Christina McKinney, a seamstress and close friend of Betty Suarez, for four years.
In recent times, the Scottish actress has gravitated more towards drama than comedy, featuring in shows like The Reckoning, Love, Lies and Records, Catastrophe, and most recently Mayflies, which was released in 2022.
Shetland season nine continues every Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.