Mother IN LAW!

ALISON O’DONNELL on new mum Tosh juggling raising a baby with police work…

- STEVEN PERKINS

The past year has been a particularly hectic one for DS Alison ‘Tosh’ McIntosh in BBC1’s gritty crime drama Shetland. She stepped up as Acting DI while Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) was suspended and had a baby daughter, but balancing a demanding job with motherhood is proving challenging.

As Tosh (Alison O’Donnell) investigates the disappearance of Connor Cairns (Nicholas Nunn), she finds herself needing to tread sensitively this week when mildmannered librarian Murry Rankin (Stuart McQuarrie) comes under suspicion.

In an exclusive chat, Alison, 39, tells us more…

Has motherhood changed Tosh? It’s a huge change - she’s always been married to her work, but now the baby’s here, so she’s in love with the baby and she has to juggle all that. The working hours she has are not particularly sociable, so it’s a lot.

She’s got great support with Donnie [her partner, played by Angus Miller], but he’s finding it tough as well in his own way.