All Going Swimmingly

From Tutti Frutti to Shetland, Monarch Of The Glen to Granite Harbour, Dawn Steele's heart will always be in Scotland - and the sea

- BILL GIBB

AT the turn of the year Dawn Steele was, like millions of others, catching up with some old friends in Scotland.

The New Year get-together was at the house of a pal she'd studied with at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow. The rest of her classmates were there, too, still best friends almost 30 years on.

All but one of them has moved on to other walks of life, but Dawn, who graduated back in 1998, hasn't just remained in the acting profession, she's been at the top of it for decades.

From Monarch Of The Glen to Wild At Heart to River City, she has been one of British TV's most successful and popular actresses.

"Well, thank you very much, I'll take that!" Dawn says with a smile.

"I don't have insecurity, but an actor's life is that you can do something and then not work for months. I'm still auditioning and getting some things and not others.

"Everything always looks very different to people on the outside."

What Dawn did get was yet another leading role, returning as Detective Chief Inspector Cora MacMillan who heads up the detectives in BBC One's hit show Granite Harbour, set in Aberdeen.

Also starring Hannah Donaldson and Romario Simpson, the first series won millions of viewers last year, including those catching up on BBC iPlayer, and was quickly commissioned for a new three-part investigation.

"It was great to come back, and I think this series is even better," Dawn said. "I loved the scripts, we've got a really good story to tell and I've got loads more to do, which is good.

"It knows what it is. It's quite a gentle cop drama, there's no swearing or blood and guts, and it's a good whodunit but not too complicated.

"It's really finding its feet now, and we all knew what we were doing a lot more. It's good to get a second chance at something."