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Shetland star Douglas Henshall teases major downfall of character in upcoming episode

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Nicky Morris
TV and film writer
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Shetland star Douglas Henshall has revealed that his character Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez will experience a major downfall in the upcoming episodes of the BBC drama. 

MORE: Shetland: viewers are saying the same thing following first episode of season six

Talking to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning, Douglas discussed the grief faced by his character after the death of his mum as well as the pain of heartbreak after the woman he loved betrayed him in the last series. 

WATCH: Douglas teases major downfall for DI Jimmy

In response to Holly speculating that his character might "hit rock bottom at some point" due to his overwhelming grief, Douglas said: "Well I agree with you. That’s one of the great advantages of having the same writer from the pilot all the way through to now is because I think that’s a journey that we’ve both been navigating is that eventually with this accumulated grief and small personal crises, eventually it’s going to come out sideways somewhere down the line."

He continued: "And I think we are getting towards the point where that’s about to happen in this series. It’s been set up very nicely at the moment. I think these little glimpses into what’s going on inside of him are very telling."

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The Primeval star also discussed the difficulties faced by the cast and crew while filming the sixth series during the coronavirus pandemic. He said: "It was, unfortunately, a little different this year because when we went over we were desperate not to take covid to the isles."

di jimmy

Douglas plays DI Jimmy in the BBC series

He continued: "It’s a fragile island community and we didn’t want to be the people who came and brought it there, so we were all living like monks while we were there so we didn’t really get to do much except go to work and come home. But it was lovely to be back out in nature again."

For those who have yet to watch Shetland, the series follows DI Jimmy and his team as they investigate crime on the titular Scottish island. 

Shetland continues on BBC One on Wednesday at 9pm.

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