The surroundings of Loch Thom are set to feature on BBC Scotland’s acclaimed crime drama ‘Shetland’ as a location shoot begins on Thursday.
The filming of scenes for the drama will see the closure of part of the Old Largs Road, as the area will be made to look like the remote Shetland Isles.
From 7pm on Thursday until midnight the next day, the road beside Loch Thom at junction of Dowries Farm and the junction with Dunrod Road will be shut off for the gritty prime-time detective series.
Shetland is a BBC Scotland crime drama television series starring Douglas Henshall as Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez.
The story is largely based on the novels by Ann Cleeves. Three series have already aired, and proved popular internationally, with current filming being done for an eagerly anticipated fourth series expected to be broadcast later this year.
Shetland tells the story of DI Perez and his team as they have to deal with the unique constraints of the isolated and sometimes inhospitable area in order to find clues and solve crimes within the close knit community, with hard-hitting and sometimes controversial storylines.
David Kane, who was showrunner for the programme’s first series, will also pen the episodes, which will be produced by ITV Studios through BBC Scotland for BBC One. The six part series of hour long episodes is screened not just in the UK, but Canada, Norway, and USA, as well as other international countries.
In recent years, there has been television filming in Largs for tv soap ‘Waterloo Road’ and at Hunterston Estate for BBC1’s ‘Jonathan Creek’, while Millport has also featured on ‘Only An Excuse’ , and even a McDonald’s television advert.
It is not the first time that ‘Shetland’ has been filming in the area, as Loch Thom was used in 2012 for the first series. Last April, there was location filming for Shetland at the Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock and at the neighbouring East India Harbour.