Granite Harbour: Dawn Steele on the return of the Aberdeen crime series

She’s played vets, doctors and farmers but being an actor is the best job of all for the Scottish TV star

Dawn Steele on the red carpet at the premier of the documentary My Old School starring Alan Cumming at Glasgow Film Festival 2022. Pic: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

Granite Harbour is back, the BBC crime crime drama set in Aberdeen and this time round Dawn Steele, who plays no-nonsense boss DCI Cora MacMillan, was pleased to get her feet firmly on the ground in the silver city as she pushes her team to get to grips with grim goings on.

“I’m a lot more involved this year, way more involved than a DCI in real life probably would be, and get to do a lot more interviewing and be a bit more hands on. Also I get to do all my own stunts and there are quite a few altercations, so you realise Cora is quite a badass. She’s not scared of anything,” she says.

The new three part series from LA Productions sees MacMillan’s team, with Romario Simpson as Lindo, Hannah Donaldson as Bart, Bhav Joshi as Mallick and Michelle Jeram as Monty, investigating the granite city’s criminal underworld when a drug boss’s fixer turns up dead as a new cocaine and ketamine compound hits the city. Meanwhile down at the docks a pregnant stowaway claims her partner was murdered en route to Aberdeen, and the team find the crew of a Norwegian cargo ship very unwilling to help them with their enquiries.

“The harbour looks amazing on screen and it’s such a story of our time, now, it’s heartbreaking. It meant we had actors from Scandinavia and it was lovely to have that influence in the series because you’re nearer to those countries when you’re in Aberdeen,” says Steele.

It’s a welcome return north for the fortysomething Scottish actor who is based in Whitstable in Kent, where she lives with actor husband Paul Blair, 12-year old daughter and dogs, Murphy and Minnie, and filming followed on from her appearance in Shetland last year. Glasgow born Steele is also a familiar face My Old School (2022) starring Alan Cumming, her time on River City as Dr Annie Jandhu, as consultant surgeon Ange Godard on Holby (2019-22), Wild at Heart (2010-12) and Liar (2017), and back to early roles in Monarch of the Glen (1999 and 2004) after graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

“I really enjoyed being in Aberdeen, because it’s beautiful and you’re surrounded by the granite, the vistas and the accent - we’re doing a very mild east coast accent because it has an international audience, but it’s beautiful to hear it all around you. I was really keen to get more Aberdeen in there with her, get a few kens in.”

While season one saw Steele filming mostly in Glasgow and Edinburgh, this time round she was able to spend more time in the city.

The Granite Harbour team, (L-R) DS Simone 'Monty' Montrose (Michelle Jeram), DC Davis Lindo (Romario Simpson), DS Lara Bartlett (Hannah Donaldson), DI Jay Mallick (Bhav Joshi) and DCI Cora Macmillian (Dawn Steele)Pic: LA Productions/Robert Pereira Hind

“I love Aberdeen. I was there for eight weeks rehearsing Tutti Frutti with the National Theatre of Scotland at His Majesty’s but that was before my daughter was born, maybe 15 years ago, so it was great to go back. It’s really changed since then, a bit zhuzh-ier, nice hotels, restaurants, bars. And in the sunshine there’s nothing like it, that granite is just stunning.

“Also I got to see a bit more of the beach and harbour, because when we were doing the play up there I’m ashamed to say I don’t think I went down the beach once. Whereas now, I’d be in that water, swimming,” she says, a convert to cold water swimmer, which she does off the Kent coast near her home most days.

The new series sees Steele rounding out the character of MacMillan and making her presence felt as she controls the resources at her disposal, human and financial.

“That is the job, the higher up you go, the more away from the floor you are,” says Steele. “It’s about money and resources, knowing where to put it, where it’s going to go, so that’s why she’s dead against wasting time because she’s got to answer to someone. It’s about logistic and management.”

Dawn Steele as DCI Cora MacMillan in Granite Harbour. Pic. LA Productions/Robert Pereira Hind

“But funnily enough in this series she’s on the ground a little bit more, just because she has to be, without giving too much away.

“She’s a good character to play. She’s straight down the line and just gets on with it. I’ve got a friend who is a DCI, so I went round to chat to her and it’s really interesting - I mean she kept saying ‘can’t tell you this, can’t tell you that’ - but I got a lot about demeanour and being straight forward about things, and obviously we’ve got a real ex-cop, Michelle Jeram, on the team.”

And I wouldn’t say she’s great fun, she’s quite dry, but she’s quite funny too - well, she thinks she’s funny, so she’s got a bit of a sense of humour. I think in this series you get to see a bit of a softer side of her when things all come to a head and she’s got decisions to make about the team and you see how she really does care about them. There’s a slight bit of emotion from her which you haven’t see before, so that was fun to play.”

With the plot cracking along, there isn’t a lot of time for characters’ back stories to emerge, but Mallick’s family become part of the storyline, as does Lindo’s dad, when he makes a surprise visit from Jamaica.

Dawn Steele as Ange Godard in Holby. Pic: BBC/Kieron McCarron

“It would be great if we do another season,” says Steele, “see where she lives and who with, what’s her story, what’s her background? I think she’s very career-orientated, which you have to be in that job, and she’s not got any kids. I’m sure it’s different now, but when she was going through the ranks she didn’t have time for that. Definitely the job comes first and she also has strength and integrity.”

With an old rival of MacMillan’s on the scene in the form of gang boss Grace McFadden, Steele’s ability to remain professional is tested.

“They’ve got a history from being at school together and Lesley Hart, who plays her, is a friend of mine so we’ve got a shorthand anyway and we made up our own history of why they don’t like each other. We liked to think that in another life Grace would be doing what Cora’s doing but obviously she came from a family of drug dealers so…”

But will the DI let her personal feelings cloud her judgement?

“You see glimmers of that but first and foremost it’s procedure with her. It’s this is the way it’s got to be. Definitely in episode three she is faced with a dilemma but makes a decision quickly because she has to.”

Steele has played many varied roles, from surgeons to vets but this is the first time she’s played a policewoman.

Dawn Steele as Stella Quinn in BBC's Shetland. Pic: Contributed

“Yes, vets, doctors, now a policewoman. I think it’s the accent. Authoritative,” she laughs.

Before filming Granite Harbour Steele was in Shetland, filming for the crime drama and playing another woman of action, Stella, part of the matriarchal Bain family.

“Yeah out of all the characters I’ve played she was quite forthright, but she was overshadowed by her mum and that family and had to keep a lid on everything. It was a dark storyline. My emotions are quite here, so they’re all quite accessible, which I think you need to be as an actor, you just need to have it there. I like a bit of quiet before you go into a take, I’m not one of these people that can just chat up to action - especially in Holby when we were doing surgery and you’ve got medical things and have to really concentrate. But I’m very instinctual as an actor. And as a person I am as well.”

There are a lot of strong women on screen in Shetland…

“That’s why I was so grateful to be part of it. To be part of Ashley beginning in Shetland was magic because we were just all women together and ruling the roost and it was nice.”

What were the best parts of that job?

“First and foremost being there. I’ve never been before and that’s why I wanted to do the job, to go up there and see what it’s like, and also the script. When I read it I said ‘I need to get this’ because I felt a connection with it. I have a daughter so I could really connect with what it would be like to lose someone. And I wanted to work with Ashley. I’ve always admired her and to be part of her joining Shetland was amazing. I’m so jealous they’re all up there filming the next season.”

Having been in the business for 25 years, Steele is candid about the way women are represented on screen and what it means for her.

“I've definitely noticed there are fewer roles once you get older. But the roles that do come along are getting better I think. I find it frustrating because I feel I’ve never been better in terms of where I am in my life. I don’t mean ‘oh my god I’m an amazing actress’, but in terms of my experience, what I’ve done, and I’ve never been fitter. You get to a certain age and you really know yourself but unfortunately the world tends to not create as many opportunities, and actually what you could be doing would be amazing. Give these women these parts, let them write these things, let them direct, because we know what we’re talking about now.”

With such a diverse career on jobs that have taken her away from home, has it been tough combining it with family life?

“It is just the job. It was harder when I had my child as in you just don’t want to be away from home but that’s why I did Holby, that was a good three years when I could stay at home in my own house and get her from school some days, and the regular wage. So these jobs come along sometimes and you think actually this is right for right now. But yeah, I’m always travelling. But to get to go to all these places, it’s wonderful.”

“And I’ve just done it for such a long time now and feel at home on a set and in a rehearsal room. I love the camaraderie, the crew, the other actors, getting the script and picking it apart, I love it all. Being on a set just feels like home and I miss it when I’m not there. I can’t do anything else. I don’t know what else I would do.”

Not from an acting family - her dad was an alarm engineer and mum worked for The Royal Bank of Scotland - Steele always knew she wanted to perform.

“It started out with dancing then went to doing pantos to joining local am dram, which is what my daughter is doing just now, so it’s interesting to watch. We went to see Macbeth with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma and she loved it.”

Does she give her advice?

“Oh yeah, but I’m the mum, what do I know?” she says and laughs, adding ”I’ve only been doing it for 25 years…”

Speaking of Macbeth, Steele would love the chance to do some Shakespeare, especially after watching Indira Varma’s take.

“She was just amazing, and I thought ‘I don’t think you can better that’. But it’s interesting, all these roles, I think oh god I’ve not played that yet and I’m getting too old, but actually I’m not, nowadays anything goes. But my dream is I’d love to do something with the RSC, do some Shakespeare.”

After decades in the business Steele knows a thing or two about longevity and how to build resilience, keeping busy between jobs.

“It’s difficult as an actor and If I’m honest, I still overthink things if I don’t get a job - could I have done that differently in the meeting? - but with age, you just think something always comes up.

“And I’m always busy. I just fill my world. I've got a child who’s at that age where you're just a taxi driver and I swim and exercise and have a busy social life. I think a good thing is to have a bit of a side hustle, which I’ve never had, or something else you’re passionate about, but it’s just keep your mind occupied.

“I just went from job to job when I was young and as you get older… yeah there are fewer parts but also I don’t want to go on tour for eight months of a play because I want to be at home for a certain amount of time so you are quite limited about what you want to do.

“I think being an actor is amazing and I absolutely love it and would never stop her from having all of the amazingness and fun and joy I get from it. But it’s hard, the constant knock backs and starting again at a new job, new people. That’s why I like working in Scotland a lot, because I know everyone. Thew crew will have done Monarch of the Glen or Shetland so that’s amazing because they’ve known me since I was 20.

“I think I must have resilience because I wouldn’t still be doing it otherwise. Weighed up with the joy it gives me, there’s no better job in the world.”

Granite Harbour airs on BBC Scotland on Thursday 2 May at 10pm and Friday 3 May on BBC One at 9pm. All three episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from Thursday 2 May.

WATCH EPISODE ONE TRAILER HERE