Shetland star Douglas Henshall has made a candid comment about the lack of TV roles for a man of his age.
In a new interview, the actor, who is playing a villainous role in Netflix's upcoming thriller, Who Is Erin Carter?, revealed that there "aren't so many roles around" for him any more.
Douglas, who stepped down as Shetland's leading man last year, said that he didn't intentionally seek out a baddie role. "It's very difficult to make conscious decisions about what you're going to do when you're a 57-year-old white man," he told RadioTimes.com. "There aren't so many roles around for me any more."
The actor continued: "I think that's just a fact of getting older. People are looking for younger actors these days. There's a degree of, 'I've been offered that, I'm grateful for the job, I'll go and do it.'"
© ITV/ShutterstockThe upcoming Netflix show, which premieres on Thursday 24 August, follows British ex-pat Erin, who is working as a teacher in Spain when she finds herself caught up in a supermarket robbery.
The full synopsis reads: "Meet Erin — mum, wife and teacher living the ex-pat dream in Spain. Or so we think until she finds herself caught up in a robbery in a supermarket, which then leads to her being revealed as a badass fighter! Erin is clearly not who she says she is, but who exactly is she and how far will she go to keep her true identity at bay as her life begins to unravel?
© Sam Taylor/Netflix"Who Is Erin Carter? combines a unique blend of genres: Erin's family life and work life at the local international school offers rich character-driven domestic drama, while the crime story combines nail-biting plot twists with breath-taking action sequences."
Starring in the lead role is actress Evin Ahmad. Meanwhile, Douglas will portray a character named Daniel Lang, with Sean Teale (Survivor) as Jordi, Susannah Fielding (This Time with Alan Partridge) as Olivia, Indica Watson as Harper and Charlotte Vega (Wrong Turn) as Penelope.
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Douglas is also set to appear in the BBC's upcoming adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel, Murder Is Easy. The two-part thriller features a stacked cast, with big names including Downton Abbey star Penelope Wilton, The Crown's Sinead Matthews and Ghosts actor Mathew Baynton.
© ITV/ShutterstockLeading the cast is Rye Lane actor David Jonsson in the role of Fitzwilliam, alongside The Rings of Power actress Morfydd Clark, who will play Bridget.
Douglas left his role as DI Jimmy Perez in Shetland at the end of season seven, passing the baton to actress Ashley Jensen, who will star as the new lead in season eight.
On why he left the show, Douglas previously told the BBC: "I decided to leave a few years ago because I felt that Perez's story was coming to a natural end - it was time to find a resolution to Perez's private life.
"I never wanted to ruin the things that were unique to him and our series so it felt like the right time to wrap up his story in a way that would be satisfactory to everybody."
