Meet the cast of 'twentysomething' lawyers lighting up Scotland's new BBC legal drama Counsels

The cast of the much-anticipated new Scottish BBC legal drama Counsels has been unveiled as filming gets underway in Glasgow.

Earlier this year the Journal considered all the best legal TV series to grace our small screens and whilst Scottish classics did appear (remember Sutherland's Law?), it has been a while.

Now Balloon Entertainment is producing a series co-created by Scottish writers Bryan Elsley (The Crow Road, Skins) and BBC Writers' Drama Room graduate Gillian McCormack.

The eight-part series is being produced for BBCiPlayer, BBC One and BBC Scotland and has been supported by Screen Scotland.

Meet the cast

Our young lawyers Jamie (Brandon Grace, My Lady Jane, Hamlet Hail to the Thief), Bav (Ro Kumar, Traces S2, Accidental Death of an Anarchist), Nadine (Eilidh Park, Wind of Change), Alasdair (George Prentice, The Pendragon Cycle), Katie (Alyth Ross, Last Light, Dirty Angels) and Karina (Rebecca Bell, Outlander: Blood of My Blood) navigate their sometimes complex and messy lives whilst exploring the challenging yet thrilling world of law.

The ensemble is joined by an impeccable range of established talent including: Michelle Gomez (The Flight Attendant, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), 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 (Guilt, Department Q), Neshla Caplan (The Rig, Rebus) and Stephen Purdon (River City, Sweet Sixteen).

What is the plot of Counsels?

The press announcement from Balloon Entertainment reveals:

Counsels follows the lives of a group of twentysomething lawyers in Glasgow in the crucial moment when a few years out of university their careers finally become serious. Working across the legal landscape, whether as public prosecutors, slick representatives of glossier commercial interests or the shabby and good-hearted last resort of those with nothing left to lose, each one of them is out to win. They are colleagues jostling for promotion, lovers trying to hold onto one another as ambitions accelerate and pure adversaries professionally and personally. And now’s the time things are going to catch fire.

Behind the scenes

Showrunner Bryan Elsley, who was behind the generation-defining Channel 4 drama Skins, says he is excited to introduce a "galaxy of Scottish acting, writing and directing talent to our audience". The Skins cast famously featured future stars including Nicholas Hoult and Kaya Scodelario and Oscar nominees Dev Patel and Daniel Kaluuya.

Gillian McCormack adds: “It’s been amazing to work with Bryan and see our incredible crew and phenomenal cast come together. Developing our characters and their worlds has been a brilliant experience and I can’t wait to share their stories set against the backdrop of the dynamic, exciting and contemporary city of Glasgow, of which I am hugely proud.”

Audiences legal and lay alike are right to be excited by the prospect of Counsels hitting the screen. Louse Thornton, Head of Commissioning at BBC Scotland, has revealed that the series is part of the single biggest BBC investment in drama in Scotland for 'more than a decade'.

That outlay includes investment in Grams, The Young Team and Rebus as well as existing commissions like Shetland.