Scottish actor Peter Mullan says that in the past he would never have touched a project which cast English people as Scots.
But in a new crime adaptation of Iain Banks' novel Stonemouth, Peter stars alongside English actors Christian Cooke and Charlotte Spencer.
“Back in the day, I would have been less happy to see two English actors play two Scots," he says. "In fact, I wouldn’t have done it, to be honest.
Peter Mullan, Charlotte Spencer and Christian Cooke star in Stonemouth (BBC)
“In the last 15-20 years, you’ve got Scots actors playing English characters with nobody raising an eyebrow and the other way around, so I don’t have an issue with it. In fact, I was in awe of Christian and Charlotte, who were absolutely spot-on and had faultless Scottish accents.
“Christian did it in the same way that Robert Carlyle did it when he played a Liverpudlian in Cracker, and Jonny Lee Miller did in Trainspotting."
Talking about the 1996 film in which he also starred, Peter says: “In fact, I never knew that Jonny was English – that came as quite a shock to me."
Stonemouth begins BBC2 on Thursday 11 June at 9.00pm.
