Surprise TV twist as record-breaking former SNP MP joins cast of solicitors' drama Counsels

Upcoming BBC legal drama Counsels, set in Glasgow, has already set solicitors’ tongues wagging and now the production has made a surprise announcement — former SNP MP Mhairi Black will join the cast.

Whether the excitement of a high-stakes television series focused on the profession, the nostalgia for programmes like Ally McBeal and This Life, or annoyance at the false pluralisation of the title, Counsels is shaping up to be a must-see for solicitors.

Charting the lives of a group of twentysomething lawyers in Glasgow just a few years out of university, the programme already has an ensemble cast of young faces including Brandon Grace (My Lady Jane, Hamlet Hail to the Thief), Ro Kumar (Traces S2, Accidental Death of an Anarchist), Eilidh Park (Wind of Change).

Now Mhairi Black, who made history in 2015 as the youngest MP elected to Westminster since 1832 and how served as deputy leader of the SNP’s UK Parliament group, has joined the cast of Counsels.

Black, who will play a detective in her first acting role, will appear in four episodes of the eight-part series which starts filming next week"

“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.”

The plot of Counsels, per the production team (let by Scottish writers Bryan Elsley of Skins fame and BBC Writers’ Drama Room graduate Gillian McCormack), will focus on solicitors working across the profession as prosecutors, ‘slick representatives of glossier commercial interests or the good-hearted last resort of those with nothing left to lose’.

The full cast includes Black, Grace, Kumar and Park as well as George Prentice (The Pendragon Cycle), Alyth Ross (Last Light, Dirty Angels) and Rebecca Bell (Outlander: Blood of My Blood).

They are joined by an impeccable range of established talent including Michelle Gomez (Doom Patrol, The Flight Attendant), Derek Riddell (Happy Valley, Industry), Laura Haddock (What It Feels Like For A Girl, The Recruit), Daniela Nardini (This Life, Sunset Song), Michael Nardone (Traces, The Night Manager), Sally Howitt (River City, Dinosaur), Stuart Bowman (Department Q, Only Child), Neshla Caplan (The Rig, Rebus) and Stephen Purdon (River City, Sweet Sixteen).