OMEN
12-28-2009, 08:16 PM
Taggart star Alex Norton has revealed that he thought the show was "lucky to last a year".
The actor plays DCI Matt Burke in the 25-year-old crime series, which celebrated its 100th episode on Christmas Eve.
The 59-year-old told The Sun: "Taggart's amazing - 100 not out. It's utterly incredible. What a milestone. To be in the 100th episode of Taggart was a real buzz. I've been in it now for eight years and loved every minute of it, so long may it continue.
"My greatest hope when I was asked to do Taggart was that I'd get a good three years out of it. To be honest, I thought I'd be lucky to last a year. But it just went on and on. Its success is extraordinary."
The drama, which STV have produced since it began in 1983, was rumoured to be on a cancellation list after ITV axed a number of dramas in a budget-cutting operation. Hugo Speer spoke out at the time about Taggart's importance in the British drama industry.
The Scot added: "I must admit, I'd more or less resigned myself to the fact that we weren't going to film Taggart again. I just didn't see how, after all the toing and froing between STV and ITV. It was a worrying time. A lot of top dramas have been axed because of budget cuts.
"But it would have been a bloody shame for everyone involved. Taggart provides a lot of work for a lot of people in Scotland. I've got bills to pay, just like everyone else. I live in London, so I'll always need to work.
"There's even news that ITV are putting money into it. As far as I know, they are. The most important thing is we've been told that it's definitely going ahead, even if ITV decide not to commission it, but it's obviously good news if ITV are coming on board.
"I think we're aiming to start filming again in April, but I don't know. Taggart does fantastically well on the network for ITV. Colin McCredie keeps his eye on things and he's always scouring the net for info. He will email us and say, 'Last night's viewing figures were this'.
"Even the repeats of Taggart get a lot more viewers than a lot of new dramas. You have to hope common sense prevails. It would have been silly for ITV to kill it off."
Norton has played the leading detective in the show since 2002.
DS
The actor plays DCI Matt Burke in the 25-year-old crime series, which celebrated its 100th episode on Christmas Eve.
The 59-year-old told The Sun: "Taggart's amazing - 100 not out. It's utterly incredible. What a milestone. To be in the 100th episode of Taggart was a real buzz. I've been in it now for eight years and loved every minute of it, so long may it continue.
"My greatest hope when I was asked to do Taggart was that I'd get a good three years out of it. To be honest, I thought I'd be lucky to last a year. But it just went on and on. Its success is extraordinary."
The drama, which STV have produced since it began in 1983, was rumoured to be on a cancellation list after ITV axed a number of dramas in a budget-cutting operation. Hugo Speer spoke out at the time about Taggart's importance in the British drama industry.
The Scot added: "I must admit, I'd more or less resigned myself to the fact that we weren't going to film Taggart again. I just didn't see how, after all the toing and froing between STV and ITV. It was a worrying time. A lot of top dramas have been axed because of budget cuts.
"But it would have been a bloody shame for everyone involved. Taggart provides a lot of work for a lot of people in Scotland. I've got bills to pay, just like everyone else. I live in London, so I'll always need to work.
"There's even news that ITV are putting money into it. As far as I know, they are. The most important thing is we've been told that it's definitely going ahead, even if ITV decide not to commission it, but it's obviously good news if ITV are coming on board.
"I think we're aiming to start filming again in April, but I don't know. Taggart does fantastically well on the network for ITV. Colin McCredie keeps his eye on things and he's always scouring the net for info. He will email us and say, 'Last night's viewing figures were this'.
"Even the repeats of Taggart get a lot more viewers than a lot of new dramas. You have to hope common sense prevails. It would have been silly for ITV to kill it off."
Norton has played the leading detective in the show since 2002.
DS