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I was delighted and honoured to be included in Jeff Holmes recent book celebrating 10 years of BBC Scotland's RIVER CITY. I loved my time in Sheildinch and would relish a return to that excellent back lot and studios. RIVER CITY is an important show for up and coming Scottish talent as HIGH ROAD was for me 15 years ago. It also gives established actors decent characters and memorable storylines to get their teeth into and I hope the show runs easily as long as HR did. Working on a 'soap' or 'returning drama serial' is hard work, (believe me!) and the cast and crew on this one work hard to keep it going and to keep it fresh for the audience. I was delighted to see so many familiar faces in the crew from my Glendarroch & Glenbogle days now working in Shieldinch..brought back many memories!Jeff's book, 10 YEARS OF RIVER CITY is available in all good bookshops now!

Following our opening night at Greenock for KIDNAPPED we received a lovely 4* review from the Glasgow Herald. I was honoured to be compared to a young Ian Cuthbertson, with whom I once worked on a script reading of Sergio Casci's feature film, 'THE STRAWBERRY WHISTLER' which became 'AMERICAN COUSINS'. Huge thanks and much respect to Neal Cooper for the comparison!

Kidnapped  

The latest production from Sell A Door Theatre Company - has been touring the UK since January. As the production enters the second part of it tour, the team caught up with Simon Weir from STV's High Road and the BBC's Monarch of the Glen who is bringing the famous Alan Breck to life.

Where have we seen you before Simon?

 I played the village bad boy, Paul Lafferty in STV's long-running series High Road from 1996-2003. Taking over the garage from Gary MacDonald. My character was involved in many dodgy schemes such as selling illicit booze, steroids, ram rading with a fire engine and even ended up in jail for beating his girlfriend Sally McGann.I was also in series 3 of Monarch of the Glen, where I appeared as Stuart MacIntosh, a local dodgy building contractor who conned Hector into selling off plots of the Glenbogle estate, whilst romancing Lexie and falling foul of Archie.

When did you start acting?

I started acting at 12yrs old, when I attended Dorothy Paul's Acting School in Glasgow. I then signed with the Freddie Young Agency and auditioning for roles in Leaving, One Foot in the Grave and landing commercials (with Vincent Regan). I decided to make a career of it after watching a TV series with Iain Glen, The Fear, in the late 80s. I got to work with Iain Glen on Glasgow Kiss and ironically am now playing Alan Breck in Kidnapped which Iain Glen played on TV in 2005.

What is like being on stage again?

I am thrilled to return to the stage after 7 years and to have landed the role of Alan Breck in Kidnapped is a personal dream come true. One of my favourite historical characters and my childhood's most prized novel! The Sell A Door production has all the elements of the book and terrific performances from the cast, with rousing jacobean live music, adventure, singing, puppets, a riveting central narrative and is a fast-paced adaptation by Ivan Wilkinson. And of course there's plenty of swashbuckling sword-fighting from a certain...Alan Breck.

Kidnapped also stars Stewart McCheyne, Lesley Cook, Christopher Anderton and Jamie Laird.

The production is Directed by Anna Fox, Designed by Richard Evans and Lighting Designed by Charlie Morgan Jones.

For more information visit www.selladoor.com.