Shetland star on why she is 'privileged' to join hit BBC show

“I am so glad I didn’t get any of the previous roles I auditioned for on Shetland,” she says, earnestly. “Because this one is perfect – it just felt right. This part is my part.”

The long-running awardwinning BBC drama, inspired by Ann Cleeves’ novels, returns on Wednesday (November 1) with new lead Ashley Jensen replacing Douglas Henshall, who played DI Jimmy Perez for seven series.

Dawn with fellow cast members on the set of Shetland (Image: BBC)

Ugly Betty star Ashley plays Met detective Ruth Calder, who returns home to Shetland on the trail of Ellen Quinn, a vulnerable witness to a London gangland murder.  DI Calder teams up with DI Alison “Tosh” McIntosh (Alison O’Donnell) to help solve the mystery, bringing them into contact with notorious local family the Bains, led by scary matriarch Grace (Phyllis Logan). Dawn plays Ellen’s mother Stella, who has not seen her daughter since she left for London six months ago.

“It is a dark story, full of twists and turns,” agrees Dawn, whose previous roles on Monarch of the Glen, Holby City, Sea of Souls, River City and Wild at Heart have made her a household name.

Dawn with co-star Alistair Mackenzie in Monarch of the Glen (Image: BBC)

“Detective dramas are not usually my bag – I can never figure these things out, my brain just doesn’t work that way.”

She groans: “It drives my husband mad when we watch something together. I always have so many questions, and he’ll be like, just WAIT. Just watch it….”

Dawn had never been to Shetland before she headed north for filming.

Dawn also appeared in Noughties paranormal drama Sea of Souls (Image: BBC)

“It was one of my big ticks for doing this, getting the chance to go there,” she says. “That, and the script is amazing, and Phyllis Logan is playing my mother, and working with Ashley… it was a no-brainer, really.”

She adds: “I’m a huge fan of Ashley. I’m in awe of her – she has funny bones, but she can really turn on the emotion. And she’s a great person – she made everyone feel relaxed.”

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Alison O’Donnell, who plays Tosh, says working with Dawn and Phyllis was a fantastic experience.

“They are wonderful, charismatic, generous women who really led the way with their performances and their professionalism,” she says.

“Sometimes it was hard to concentrate during the scenes because watching them perform was so distracting, like being in the front row of a hit show.”

Dawn Steele (Image: Newsquest)

Dawn says: “That is a really lovely thing to hear. Because the existing cast is so brilliant, you want to do well for them, if that makes sense? The new series is different, but it’s also the same. It’s still that amazing cast, it’s still that same style of drama - it’s still Shetland, and I feel very privileged to be part of its new wave.”

Dawn, who lives in Whitstable in the south of England with her husband and fellow actor Paul Blair, and their daughter Coco, who is 12, is also filming a second series of Granite Harbour in Scotland. She plays DCI Cora MacMillan in the show, which has been described as “Aberdeen’s Death in Paradise”.

“I was joking recently I should just move back here,” she grins. “Cora is a fun part to play. It’s completely different from Shetland – more gentle.”

Dawn was born in Glasgow and grew up in Milton of Campsie, where joining local am-dram and dance groups inspired her to become an actor.

Dawn as Stella Quinn in Shetland (Image: BBC)

“I always wanted to do it, and I have been very lucky, as it’s bloomin’ hard,” she sighs. “Even now, I am starting to get the fear because I finish filming in three weeks, and I don’t know what’s next… every single time is like starting again.”

She adds: “The parts I play have changed, of course. I play a lot of mums, but I love that, because it’s something I know. I tend to get authoritative roles, women who are in charge. That’s another reason I love Stella, actually, because she’s not like that at all. Her mother is the real matriarch, and Stella is scared of her mother. So I’ve really enjoyed digging into that.”

She pauses. “But just to be here, 20 years later, still working - it’s great,” she says, smiling. “If you can keep doing it, keep making a living from your passion…that is a very good thing.”

Shetland starts on BBC One Scotland on Wednesday, November 1.