The Hour

23 July 2009, 18:38

John Michie has made the startling revelation that the idea for STV’s new series Made in Scotland emanated from a murder!

The premise for the programme, which celebrates some of Scotland’s biggest icons, was originally based on Michie’s desire to establish a tartan for his family name.

But the Taggart actor, 52, revealed to The Hour that there was a sinister reason behind the lack of tartan for the Michie clan.

He said: “It started off as an idea I brought to STV about tartan, I’m really interested in the history of tartan and I thought it would be really interesting to create a tartan for my family, the Michie family, who don’t have one due to a murder. But I won’t necessarily go into that just now.

“It’s just developed into something much bigger where loads of, kind of, iconic Scottish things were introduced along with the tartan. The tartan is the central strand throughout the three one-hour episodes. Either side of it you’ve got whisky; haggis; golf; shortbread; inventors.

“It’s a huge celebration of things Scottish.”

Michie presents the programme which sees the Burma-born star visit New York’s Tartan Week. Among the other well-known Scots to appear in the programme are Lorraine Kelly, who celebrate the city of invention, Dundee, and former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell, who plays the pipes and many more.

However Michie won’t be abandoning his acting roots any time soon and will always be known best as DI Robbie Ross.

He said: “I love playing Ross, there are so many aspects to his character, so many roots you can go down; he’s a bit dodgy; likes a drink; gets involved with women for quite a lot of his time."

Made in Scotland is on STV tonight at 9.00 and runs for the next two weeks at the same time.

Last updated: 17 January 2010, 15:50