Shetland star looks unrecognisable in unearthed studio photo shoot from 24 years ago
FANS of Scottish actor Douglas Henshall would not recognise him in snaps from a long forgotten 1990s photoshoot.
The 57-year-old actor is best known for playing DI Jimmy Perez in the BBC’s Scottish crime drama Shetland. However, he’s been acting for much longer than that. Recently unearthed photos of Douglas give his fans a glimpse into the earlier years of his career.
In the photos, which were taken in 1999 and possibly used as Douglas’s professional headshots, the actor looks works away from his Shetland character.
The snaps depict Douglas 24-years ago and show him with wild, curly dark blonde hair which falls down to his shoulders. He’s sporting a khaki green jumper on top of a light blue shirt and also has a neatly trimmed beard not too dissimilar from his regular facial hair.
Posing for the first shot, Douglas placed his hand behind his head and rested his chin on his hands for the second.
At the time the photos were taken, Douglas was on TV shows like Psychos and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, as well as films like Kid in the Corner.
His career was just beginning to take off, and he soon took on more roles. He featured in Lawless Heart and Silent Cry in 2001 and 2002, before playing Nick Cutter in Primeval from 2007 to 2009.
Four short years later, the Glasgow-born star landed his most notable role to date; Shetland’s Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez.
He shared the screen with the likes of Alison O’Donnell, who played his partner, DS Alison “Tosh” McIntosh, and Erin Armstrong, who played his step-daughter, in the crime drama for almost a decade.
However, in 2022, Douglas made a shocking departure from the series, passing on the baton to Tosh, who now leads the show.
His next career move marked a departure from the small screen as Douglas left Scotland and stepped out onto the London stage.
Sharing the news of his new theatrical venture on Twitter, the actor penned: “Back in London to start work on the phenomenal new play Mary by Rona Munro, directed by Roxana Silbert at Hampstead Theatre. Come and see it if you can.”
In the play, which is an intimate look at the life of Mary Queen of Scots, Henshall played James Melville, a close confidant of Mary’s.
It ran from October to November 2022, after which Douglas returned to the screen, landing a role in the Netflix series Who is Erin Carter?
This marks another major change in his career as his character, villain Daniel Lang, couldn’t be more different from Jimmy Perez. However, he told Radio Times that he very much enjoyed getting to play the bad guy for once.
“It’s always fun to pretend to be firing a gun. It’s quite childhood-inducing,” he admitted.
All eight episodes of Who is Erin Carter? are available to stream on Netflix.