‘It gets rid of the Hamish Macbeth myth’: North officer looks back on his role in Highland Cops TV series

Five-part series covered a range of policing issues across the Highlands and Islands

By John Ross

May 6 2023, 5:00 pm

Sgt David Miller and a colleague stopping Anders Povlsen Image: BBC/Firecrest Films

David Miller has not quite moved from writing fixed penalty notices to signing autographs.

But he has noticed that his stint on TV has certainly become a talking point in his community.

Sgt Miller, of the Dingwall-based Highland and Islands road policing unit, is one of the officers appearing in the BBC documentary series Highland Cops.

While it may not have bestowed celebrity status on its ‘stars’, he believes the exposure is good for the force and the area.

A human side to the force

It also updates attitudes towards the force from a certain TV police show from the 1990s.

“It’s showed a bit more of the human side of the police and that, when you work in a community, across the north of Scotland you also live there.

“A scary number of people seem to have watched the show. Not that we’re all famous now, but I’m more recognised and a lot of people have said ‘I saw you on telly last night’.

“However, it’s good for police in the area. It gets rid of the Hamish Macbeth myth.

Sgt David Miller says the series has been good for the police force

“It only scratches the surface of what goes on up here. The sleepy Highlands idea can be dispelled and cops are stretched across the Highlands.

“It’s a tough job. There is stuff going on all the time.

“For example, the show has mentioned County Lines drug dealing which shows that nowhere is immune from that and that any area is vulnerable.”

The five-part series, which ended at the weekend, has covered a wide range of Police Scotland’s work in the Highlands, including drugs, firearms, missing persons, sudden deaths and traffic control.

The latest episode featured officers in Orkney dealing with a suspected drowning and a team in Lewis and Harris patrolling during Storm Corrie.

Two officers in Inverness save a man’s life in freezing temperatures and a search is carried out in a house in Skye for CS gas.

So many people watched the show

Sgt Miller, originally from Orkney, featured in episode 4 of the series and says it took some time to get used to being constantly on camera.

“It was weird being out with a cameras at your back. It makes you very conscious all the time about what you’re saying.

“You have to be as natural as possible, so try to play it cool and try to do it like you do normally, which is quite awkward.

“But you kind of got used to it by the end of the shift.

“So many people watched the show and commented on it. And it’s scary how much my Orkney accent has disappeared.”

Hamish Macbeth was set in the fictitious town of Lochdubh

The programme shows Sgt Miller and a colleague stopping Danish billionaire Anders Povlsen, Scotland’s largest landowner, for speeding.

He was clocked doing 82mph in Sutherland and was fined £100 and had three points added to his licence.

Sgt Miller said the identity of the driver was immaterial: “He could have been the richest man or the poorest man, he is no different from anyone else in that situation.

“It was unfortunate for him, but he was just another speeder. They are all treated equally by us at the end of the day.”