Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Rachel Keenan

Ex-MP Mhairi Black to play detective in new BBC drama

Mhairi Black was previously an SNP MP (Andrew Milligan/PA) - (PA Archive)

Former MP Mhairi Black has joined the cast of a new BBC legal drama in her first television acting role.

She plays a police detective in Counsels, which is being filmed in Glasgow and will be aired on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer.

Ms Black will appear in four episodes of the eight-part series, and starts filming next week.

The series is co-created by Scottish writers Bryan Elsley and Gillian McCormack – a BBC Writers’ Drama Room graduate – and is supported by Screen Scotland.

Ms Black, who stepped down as an SNP MP last year, said: “I’m excited to be joining Counsels and look forward to getting stuck in to playing Detective Inspector Bridges.

“I’ve been relishing trying different things since politics, this is my first TV acting role and I really enjoyed auditioning for the part.

“To work on a series which is set and filmed in Glasgow is an amazing opportunity – what a brilliant show to be a part of.”

Counsels follows the lives of a group of young lawyers in Glasgow a few years out of university, when their careers finally become serious.

The lead roles are played by an ensemble cast of Brandon Grace, Ro Kumar, Eilidh Park, George Prentice, Alyth Ross and Rebecca Bell.

Ms Black made history aged 20 in 2015 when she became the youngest MP elected to Westminster since 1832.

She spent nearly a decade in Parliament before stepping down at the 2024 general election.

Since leaving politics she has leaned towards the entertainment industry, and in 2024 she debuted a one-woman show Politics Isn’t For Me at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.