Peter Mullan plays Don Murston

Peter Mullan plays Don Murston

You play the character of Don Murston, how would you describe him?

A father and a criminal that’s as much effort I can put into analysing him – he’s a complex creature.

Don’s quite a formidable character – should Stewart Gilmour be scared of him?

I would be, yeah. Anyone who doesn’t mind killing someone you should be wary of at least.

How does Don feel about Stewart returning to Stonemouth?

He makes out it’s a big deal. I don’t know if it is, in the grand scheme of things. I think Don thinks it’s a big deal with regards to his position but if he’s honest, it’s only an issue if it develops into something more – if Ellie forgives Stewart.

Although, on the surface, the Murstons look like they have it all do you think they’re really just a dysfunctional family trying to get along?

Most criminal families are utterly dysfunctional. I don’t think he’s the sole reason for it though. I think in that kind of environment you collaborate into what they’ve become. If you’re the son or wife of somebody who makes his money through threatening others and through bullying, which most of these kind of criminals are, then you’re colluding in the dysfunctionality.

Don Murston doesn’t suffer fools gladly, do you think Ellie controls him more than he’d like to admit?

I think Don plays that game of ‘my daughter’s got me exactly where she wants me’, ‘she’s got me wrapped around her finger’ however, I think what Don does is a bit of role play with this vulnerability. I don’t think Ellie really controls him.

What attracted you to work on Stonemouth? Surely not the Scottish weather?

Filming in Scotland. I’ve been working away a lot so it’s nice to be back here to work. Also Davy Kane [Stonemouth’s writer]. We go back a long way so it’s great to work with him.

Thankfully I don’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ based on the weather. I know some actors do but it’s never bothered me.

There’s an impressive cast attached to Stonemouth – did you enjoy filming the drama?

Beautiful, lovely young actors – every one of them. There was a really lovely atmosphere on set, I know everybody says that, but there genuinely was.

Led by Christian and Charlotte, Stonemouth has a core young cast at its heart – what do you think this offers the tale?

Back in the day I would have been less happy to see two English actors play two Scots. I wouldn’t have been happy with that in the past, in fact I wouldn’t have done it to be honest. But thankfully since Bobby Carlyle, Ewan McGregor and Kevin McKidd and obviously now James McAvoy, these great actors proved that you can play any part and not just Scottish.

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 [Cooke] and Charlotte [Spencer] who were absolutely spot on and had faultless Scottish accents.

Christian especially – I’ve never stayed in an accent 24/7 but I was so in admiration of that because it’s really tough to do. And he [Christian] did it in the same way that Bobby [Carlyle] did it when he played a Liverpudlian in Cracker. Johnny Lee Miller did it in Trainspotting, in fact I never knew that Johnny was English – that came as quite a shock to me.

Christian Cooke said you’re one of his all-time acting heroes…

So I heard, that was really kind of him. Christian’s excellent, all the young cast are. Christian’s open and he’s bright and he knows how to enjoy himself on a TV set. If you take everything way too serious, which you tend to do when you’re younger, you become calcified, you can’t relax in a scene, you’re rigid, emotionally and physically. And Christian’s really got it, he knows how to have a laugh then slip into a scene as opposed to going mildly catatonic and then entering a scene.

For actors when they’re starting out that can often be tricky. There’s nothing to learn per se, it’s understanding it. When people in the crew are shouting ‘action’ around you if you’re unfamiliar with it you feel on edge. If you’re doing a love making scene it’s absurd, you’re lying in bed with somebody and trying to be intimate and someone’s shouting ‘Sound! Turnover! Action!’ it’s not normal. All the young cast had a great handle on how best to act and a great camaraderie.

You filmed in various locations around Scotland – which one stood out for you?

Macduff was amazing [doubles as the fictional town of Stonemouth] – absolutely beautiful. It’s a cracking wee place so hopefully Stonemouth will put it on the map. I’d been around that area but I’d never actually visited MacDuff. I loved it, I thought it was beautiful.

Aside from Stonemouth, what other projects have you got coming up in 2015?

I’m off to America soon to do an eight-part series for HBO, filming in New Orleans and after that I’m doing a film about the history of golf with Jason Connery, Sean’s son. It’s a lovely wee script, Jason’s directing it and we’re shooting that in St Andrews. I know nothing about golf but looking forward to this. After that, I’ve got another film which is shooting in Australia which takes me up to early next year