Jack Docherty talks about his new show, The Chief

The Scotsman

Jack Docherty talks about his new BBC Scotland show, The Chief with The Scotsman's Janet Christie.

Transcript

00:00Hello, this sounds like an audition now, this is what you do. My name is Jack Dougherty

00:04and I'm here to read for the part of Chief Commissioner Cameron Meikleson

00:07and I'm represented by a Kenobi equine.

00:11There you go. Hi, it's Jack here.

00:13Hi, and it's Janet here.

00:14There's Janet over there from the Scotsman, all the way from the Scotsman.

00:19You can't see her because she doesn't have her makeup on, but neither do I.

00:23The Chief is a spin-off, as we say in the game, in the business.

00:28So we just thought it would be fun to take his character out of Scotsquad

00:32and follow the kind of senior management team of the Scottish police force,

00:37but also go into his own personal life.

00:40So we get to meet his daughter, his daughter is a climate activist,

00:43and they're slightly estranged and they come together over the course of the series,

00:46and we get to meet his ex-wife, Barbara.

00:49So it's kind of the hook of the whole thing is that he's the Chief of Police,

00:53but his entire life he's policed.

00:55He's policed at work by his deputy,

00:58he's policed by the head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,

01:01he's policed by his daughter, who complains about everything,

01:03even if he's got a beer from Germany, she can't, you know, it's ridiculous.

01:07You've got to buy a local beer, all this kind of stuff.

01:10So that's the way into it.

01:12And so it's the character from Scotsquad, but it's a narrative,

01:16so it's a more traditional sitcom in that way, with a whole bunch of new characters.

01:20And he's sort of clinging on to power, you know,

01:23he's desperately trying to remain relevant, because, you know, he's turned 60,

01:27and how much longer has he got in the game?

01:30So it's all about him just being absolutely paranoid that they're coming to get him.

01:33And his deputy's a woman, and it's like, well,

01:35no-one a woman has been the Chief, so I'm going to be kicked out.

01:39So it's all that kind of stuff.

01:40Do you like wearing the uniform?

01:41Yeah, yeah, actually.

01:44There's a certain thing, see, I've done it there.

01:46You just did it.

01:48The director always goes, bearing,

01:50so as soon as you put the uniform on, you kind of have that.

01:54And you get a stride that just sort of comes naturally,

01:58and you just feel that, you know, everybody out my way.

02:01Stand aside, I'm coming through, I'm very important.

02:03Have you ever put it on when you're not filming?

02:07No, and there's a whole route I could go down there that I'm not going to do, obviously,

02:13as a sensitive man.

02:15No, I've never put it on.

02:17No, I've never put it on.

02:18Have I put it on at home?

02:20I wore it around the house a bit during COVID,

02:22because we were doing a little filming for BBC.

02:27I did some messages to the nation during COVID,

02:30and it was just filmed by my kids,

02:32because obviously we were bubbling together, or whatever the word was.

02:36So that's the only time.

02:38But you're not allowed to wear it.

02:39I can't wear it down the shop, because you're not allowed to, obviously.

02:42You can't go out dressed as a policeman.

02:43It's illegal.

02:44You'd get arrested.

02:45You would get arrested.

02:46So when we're filming as policemen, we have to have real police with us.

02:50How do they react to your portrayal of them?

02:53Worryingly, a lot of policemen go,

02:55who's your mole on the inside?

02:57Because the boss is just so lifelike.

03:00And I'm kind of going, are you sure you watch the show?

03:04To see the sort of stuff that he claims that we should be doing.

03:09No, the police really like the show and really like the character.

03:13He gets saluted quite a lot, slyly, at the airport.

03:16As I go through the airport, occasionally there's a little from the armed boys,

03:20which is good to have that.

03:22But yeah, it annoys my sister, because she's always...

03:24My sister's got the OBE, actually.

03:26This is apropos of nothing.

03:28So I went down with her to Holyrood.

03:29She was going from the Queen, before the Queen passed away.

03:32And all the police wanted a photograph with me.

03:36They were...

03:37And she was going, it's my one day in the limelight.

03:40Can you stop pulling focus?

03:42She stood there, holding up her OBE.

03:46And she was like, I'm not going to do it.

03:47I'm not going to do it.

03:48I'm not going to do it.

03:49I'm not going to do it.

03:50I'm not going to do it.

03:51I'm not going to do it.

03:52I'm not going to do it.

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