Counsels: Former SNP MP Mhairi Black to take on acting role in BBC drama
Mhairi Black has worked as a stand up comedian since leaving politics.
Former SNP MP Mhairi Black is to join the cast of new BBC legal drama Counsels, playing a police detective in her first acting role for television.
Ms Black, who has toured as a stand-up comedian since withdrawing from politics last year, will star in four episodes of the eight-part series as Detecive Inspector Bridges.
The series, which starts filming next week, is co-created by Scottish writer Bryan Elsley, who created Skins, and BBC Writers’ Drama Room graduate Gillian McCormack.
Counsels follows the lives of a group of 20-something lawyers in Glasgow. The lead roles are played by an ensemble cast of Brandon Grace, Ro Kumar, Eilidh Park, George Prentice, Alyth Ross and Rebecca Bell.
Michelle Gomez , who played Missy in Doctor Who, and Derek Riddell, who is best known for his portrayal of Richard Cawood in Happy Valley, will also appear in the series.
Ms Black said: “I’m excited to be joining Counsels and look forward to getting stuck in to playing Detective Inspector Bridges. I’ve been relishing trying different things since politics. This is my first TV acting role and I really enjoyed auditioning for the part. To work on a series which is set and filmed in Glasgow is an amazing opportunity - what a brilliant show to be a part of.”
Ms Black made history at just 20, becoming the youngest MP elected to Westminster since 1832. Over nearly a decade in Parliament, she became one of the SNP’s most recognisable figures, holding the role of deputy leader of the SNP in the House of Commons from 2022 to 2024, and MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South from 2015 to 2024.
In 2024, she debuted her acclaimed one-woman show, Politics Isn’t For Me, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Her transition from MP to performer was also chronicled in a BBC documentary Mhairi Black: Being Me Again.
Counsels is made for BBC iPlayer, BBC One and BBC Scotland in association with All3Media International and in coproduction with ZDFneo.
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