Scottish actor-director-producer Kevin McKidd has rolled out an independent production company back in his homeland and says he’s applying lessons learned in Hollywood to make it succeed.
When Deadline catches up with him in a New York hotel, McKidd is in the middle of shooting Conviction, the Hulu legal drama starring Elisabeth Moss and created by David Shore of House fame. After that shoot he’s heading to Los Angeles to direct episodes of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy — the series where he played Dr. Owen Hunt until he exited the role in 2026 after nearly twenty years. He’s also just finished work on a U.K. drama, The Only Suspect.
In Conviction McKidd portrays the spouse of Moss’s character, Neve Harper — a confident attorney who finally lands a career-defining case: a high-profile murder trial in which the husband is accused of killing his wife by setting their house on fire.
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The conversation quickly shifts back to Scotland. McKidd is channeling the expertise he picked up in the U.S. industry into Ferryman Films, the indie outfit he’s launched in Edinburgh. “I’ve got access to American know-how and people who’ve run big shows,” he says, “and then there are talented Scottish writers ready to be discovered. Seeing that blend happen has been really exciting.”
One project he’s developing but keeping under wraps is Troubadour. “We’re shaping that with Bruno Heller (Rome) leading the charge, and Kieran Hurley, who’s an accomplished Scottish playwright, is co-writing,” McKidd reveals.
His new banner has struck a partnership with STV Studios, the production and distribution arm of Scottish broadcaster STV, led by former NBCUniversal executive David Mortimer. Their first joint project from that deal is an adaptation of William Shaw’s detective novel The Red Shore.
They’re also developing Friends Like These for the BBC, a women-led drama about a group of friends in their thirties, written by Gillian McCormack (Counsels).
A Dark Secret
One of McKidd’s recent projects that has wrapped is The Only Suspect, a psychological drama adapted by Simon Ashdown (Trigger Point) from Louise Candlish’s novel for ITV in the U.K., directed by Farren Blackburn. Jumping between the present day and mid-1990s London, it follows Alex (McKidd) and his wife Beth, played by Amaka Okafor (Black Rabbit). The couple’s seemingly perfect suburban life conceals a shattering truth tied to a corpse — and Alex turns out to be the man who buried that body, carrying the secret for years.
“He’s very much an antihero,” McKidd says of Alex. “It’s a deliciously tricky part — you want viewers to empathize with the character even as they have real reservations about him. Those kinds of roles are fascinating puzzles.”
Part of the story’s 1990s action is set in Camden, London — an area that was at the heart of the Cool Britannia moment. That period resonates with McKidd, who was part of the era-defining film Trainspotting, playing the memorable and tragic Tommy in Danny Boyle’s movie. He recently attended a 30th anniversary screening of Trainspotting in Edinburgh.
“My formative years were right in that era we see in the younger versions of these characters,” he says.
“I didn’t kill anyone, thank goodness,” he jokes. “But you make mistakes in your twenties while you’re trying to figure life out, and that’s central to this show. I could tap into that time in my own life, which helped me find Alex’s path as he returns to confront what happened in the ‘90s.”
McKidd warns viewers to expect surprises. “Every episode keeps you off-balance. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, they yank the rug out. It’s quite dark psychologically, but there’s also a lot of humor woven through it.”
Red Planet Pictures produces the series. The well-established U.K. label is majority-owned by Fremantle, which is handling international sales and will be promoting the show at MIPCOM. The Only Suspect is Red Planet’s second adaptation of a Candlish novel, following Our House — one of ITV’s biggest drama debuts in 2022.
Tom Mullens of Red Planet, an executive producer on the series, explains why McKidd was the ideal choice for Alex: “Kevin is an intelligent actor with a broad dramatic range and a chameleon-like ability, which the role demanded. Alex is a deeply complicated man who undergoes a cathartic transformation over the four episodes.
“We see a charming, manipulative side as Alex guards his secret, but we also witness a man who genuinely loves his wife and faces an impossible decision — knowing that admitting the truth could destroy his life and marriage.”
Back Home
Although McKidd appeared in multiple U.K. productions during his tenure on Grey’s Anatomy, he noticed a different approach while filming The Only Suspect.
“On Grey’s we run three cameras almost all the time, on every take. The Only Suspect was shot with a single camera — which is closer to where I started in indie films in the ’90s and early 2000s,” he says.
“With a three-camera setup you can sometimes dilute a performance. Farren Blackburn and the director of photography did a brilliant job with that single camera, always placing it to capture the most intense version of each scene.”
His experience directing has made him more collaborative on set. “I used to be a bit of a handful, always saying, ‘My character wouldn’t do that.’ Now I’m much more flexible. Having sat in the director’s chair, I understand the choices involved.”
With credits both in front of and behind the camera, McKidd says he’s comfortable relinquishing control when he’s acting. “When I worked with Ben Williams — who was fantastic on the adaptation of Hideo Yokoyama’s Six Four — and with Farren, I told them up front: ‘I’m not coming in as an actor-director who’s going to question your decisions. I can switch that bit of my brain off and focus on acting. I trust you completely.’”
Running an indie label, he adds, requires a different kind of skill: patience as option deals are negotiated, writers are attached, and pitches are made to buyers.
“I come from a theater background and then fell into TV and film,” McKidd says. “I’ve been plugged into the Hollywood system but started from very grassroots, independent roots. I’ve got one foot in both worlds, which helps both my acting and the company.”
With Conviction calling him back to set, McKidd signs off: “I’m always trying to stay a moving target — that’s the attitude I want for the company. I want people to keep wondering what we’ll do next.”
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