Crime drama series Shetland returned to the BBC recently, with Ashley Jensen, who has been fronting the show since 2022, back as DI Ruth Calder.
Ms Jensen took over the role of the show’s protagonist after Douglas Henshall decided to call it a day three years ago after seven series, but Alison O'Dennell, who portrays DI "Tosh" in the series, had an emotional response to the first episode without her former co-star.
Mr Henshall had cemented himself as a favourite TV detective through his character DI Jimmy Perez, so fans were naturally disappointed to hear he’d be leaving the series.
Ms O’Donnell reflected on her time in the show and the pressure she felt after Mr Henshall's exit, admitting she “cried” after watching the series debut.
Shetland returned to screens this month
|BBC
DI Perez’s exit paved the way for DI Calder to begin a new era of the show in series eight, with Alison O’Donnell, remaining as Tosh, colleague and friend of the leading DI.
Ms Jensen’s leading of the new era of the show was widely welcomed by fans, but actress Ms O'Donnell admitted she had concerns at first.
"When I heard that they were going to reimagine the show, there was a part of me going, 'Oh no, we've got this legacy, and what if you get it wrong? Like, what if it doesn't work?'"
She went on to explain her fears faded after watching the series eight premiere.
Douglas Henshall fronted Shetland as Jimmy Perez until 2022
|BBC
"I remember when the first episode was airing, my kids were still up, so I went into the other room, and when I watched it I actually cried,” she told Radio Times.
“I sat on my own and I wept because it was partly relief, but also I was so proud of it. It was so much better than any of us really could have imagined.
“And I always knew that there would be the dissenting voices, but I think there was far less of that than there could have been."
Actress Ms Jensen went on to argue how Mr Henshall had left a lasting legacy on the show, so criticism to her replacing the former protagonist would have been “normal”.
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Ashley Jensen joined BBC Shetland in 2022
|BBC
"He did it for seven years, and you grow to love a character. Then it’s a bit like ripping the rug away from someone and going, 'Deal with this,'" she continued.
"Of course you're going to get people [who criticise a replacement], and that's perfectly normal."
Ms Jensen thankfully receives mainly positive reviews from fans.
She added: "What's nice for me is when a drunk man in a pub in Glasgow or Shetland comes up to me and goes, 'I wasn’t sure about you, but I quite like you now.' I'll take that."
Alison O’Donnell has portrayed Tosh in BBC's Shetland since 2013
|BBC
Theorising on why fans have taken to her character well, she shared: "Calder's super-objective for the whole of the first series was, 'I want to get the hell away from here,.'
"She was never Billy Big Boots, going, 'I've come to take over, I'm the new DI.' Everyone would have been like, 'Who are you?' And I think the audience would have done that. But instead, it led them in, it teased them in a wee bit more."