A FILMMAKER and former Kilwinning Academy pupil has directed some top TV talent in a new Channel 4 drama starting this week.

Lynsey Miller, who grew up in Whitehirst Park, shot four-part murder mystery Deadwater Fell late last year – starring David Tennant, Cush Jumbo and written by Daisy Coulam.

The drama, which kicks off on Channel 4 this Friday [January 10], was filmed in locations across Scotland including Irvine Beach, The Low Green and Culzean.

The 35-year-old former Whitehirst Park and Kilwinning Academy pupil said: “We only finished it the week before Christmas, first it gets commissioned then you’ve got to make it very fast.

“It’s quite a tricky one to talk about because you don’t want to give things away. It’s like a forensic exploration of the aftermath of a crime, and how that affects the different villagers.

“It’s a bit of an exploration of collective guilt, the idea that in a small town you feel you know everyone, but actually you’re only really showing people the side of yourself you want people to see. So it’s quite psychological.

“David Tennant was great, he’s a really lovely guy which is always appreciated. He’s a real professional and been doing it a long time.

“It’s a tricky role because everything was getting revealed incrementally and there is a real balance so I think in the hands of a lesser actor it could have tipped into cliche, but he’s just kept it all ticking along at the right level at the right time.

“The main village was primarily in Dunlop, and we shot a lot of beach scenes at Culzean and doubled it with Irvine Beach. All the actors were like ‘you’re so lucky to have grew up here’. It was nice bringing English actors as they didn’t really know Scotland.

“I moved to London 12 years ago, I got off a Megabus a little wide-eyed, and been here ever since. I started interning in factual TV, including The Jodie Marsh Show, but that was unpaid. Then I got a job as a runner in drama making tea and stuff then worked in production while making short films on the side.

“There was this scheme called Coming Up on Channel 4 which used to be half hour pieces of drama, that was my first TV credit and I started to get paid jobs from that.

“There’s a huge billboard advertising the show beside the Irvine McDonalds that I used to work in my sister Hazel sent me a picture of. It can be a tough industry and a very competitive one, so it can be easy to forget how far you’ve come and how lucky you are to be doing what you love.”