Alastair has the write stuff; The big interview The ex-Monarch stars as a famous author for his latest role He's known to millions as Archie from Glenbogle but the actor is breaking new ground in his latest TV drama.

Byline: By PAUL ENGLISH

He made his name as Archie MacDonald, the handsome Laird of Glenbogle in BBC Scotland's Sunday night cockle-warmer Monarch of The Glen.

But actor Alastair Mackenzie admits he's frustrated he's not been able to step out from the shadow of his former character.

The 36-year-old, who stars as an Ian Rankin-esque writer in oneoff BBC drama The Reichenbach Falls, feels some TV execs can't see past his moments in the Glen.

He says: "When I come across executives who can be quite unimaginative and can't really picture me doing anything else, well that can be frustrating.

"I'm sure there must be times when I've been suggested for something and they think I'm not right for a part because people just think of me as playing Archie.

"So yes, there are times when lazy executives haven't really been bothered to think beyond what they saw you in last.

"The pressure is on to find interesting parts, and that's not always easy.

My motivation is to find a new definition. I'm aware that I am where I am because of Monarch so I can't complain about it.

"But the chalice for me is that the decision makers in the business have their eyes opened to me."

It's perhaps for this very reason that Alastair didn't take BBC producers up on the offer of a return Glenbogle, to film the final episode back in 2005.

"I was asked back for the final episode, but for me my character's exit had already been made and to go back would have negated all of that.

"It would have turned it into something else, something a bit fluffier than it actually was.

"I made a decision to leave, because I think that character had been played to his fullest extent and to go back would render that decision pointless.

"It would have been a nostalgic exercise. I'm sure everyone has a different opinion on it. But for me, that chapter is closed."

And it looks as though it will remain as such. Every year, Boglies - the term given to the fans of Monarch on the internet - twitch and ponder over the possibility of the inevitable Christmas special reunion.

But just a word to the wise - Alastair ain't interested.

"No," he says firmly, when asked whether a comeback would be a I am because of Monarch so I can't complain about it.

"But the chalice for me is that the decision makers in the business have their eyes opened to me."

It's perhaps for this very reason that Alastair didn't take BBC producers up on the offer of a return Glenbogle, to film the final episode back in 2005.

"I was asked back for the final episode, but for me my character's exit had already been made and to go back would have negated all of that.

"It would have turned it into something else, something a bit fluffier than it actually was.

"I made a decision to leave, because I think that character had been played to his fullest extent and to go back would render that decision pointless.

"It would have been a nostalgic exercise. I'm sure everyone has a different opinion on it. But for me, that chapter is closed."

And it looks as though it will remain as such. Every year, Boglies - the term given to the fans of Monarch on the internet - twitch and ponder over the possibility of the inevitable Christmas special reunion.

But just a word to the wise - Alastair ain't interested.

"No," he says firmly, when asked whether a comeback would be a good idea. "But that's just my personal opinion."

Some criticised the series, saying it should have finished after he left two years before the end finally came.

Does he agree with the criticism? Were the final series two series too far?

"I watched some of them. It's a difficult question for me to answer. I miss the security of Monarch and the ability it gave me to make plans. These days I don't know what I'm doing next week. I worked with those people for five years and you make a lot of friends in that time, so yeah, I miss a lot of it. I miss the place. So my answer to that would need to be diplomatic..."

No scandal there then - perhaps wisely. After all, Alastair has to stay onside with Auntie - and this week, he's back in his home country, starring for the Beeb as Edinburgh crime write Jack Harvey.

Alongside him, Alec Newman plays the wry and obsessive DI Jim Buchan.

Both men were once friends. But that was a long time ago. In Reichenbach Falls, the lives of these estranged chums are thrown together again, then blown apart.

DI Buchan is a cop on the edge, suave and self-assured Jack Harvey is a best-selling crime novelist with the world at his feet.

As Buchan probes a 100-year-old cold case, the investigation takes him into the dark Jekyll & Hyde underworld of Edinburgh and a parallel journey into the Scottish capital's literary past, leading him to question the very nature of his existence. Written by James Mavor and based on an original idea by Ian Rankin, Reichenbach Falls was commissioned as part of BBC Four's fifth birthday celebrations, and ties together a complex and fascinating literary history with a contemporary action-packed - if a little surreal - tale.

"There's not much love lost between us, really," Alastair says, of the characters.

The role gave the actor - a huge fan of crime fiction himself - the chance to meet one of his literary heroes.

"Ian Rankin was on set as an extra in one scene," he says.

"There's a nice scene when he comes up to me - the famous novelist - and asks me to sign a book for him. I thought that was a nice twist.

"I love crime writing. Meeting Mr Rankin was a great pleasure, he's a truly charming man. But there wasn't any mutual back slapping going on.

"I was somewhat star struck by him, but he wasn't playing starry in the slightest.

"He was enjoying being on a film set, he was admitting to it being quite exciting for him."

The role - to be shown on BBC Scotland after this week's BBC 4 debut - gave Alastair the chance to learn a little about the capital.

"I went on the tour of Mary King's Close, because some of the action unfolds down there," he says. "It's amazing. It's really incredible to think that there's a whole street below the city. I know the city so well, I lived there for years, but I never knew it like this, so I decided to do a bit of research."

Richard Wilson and Laura Fraser also star in the bizarre oneoff drama, which fleets back and forth along timelines.

"I don't know if I would call it time travel, as much as maybe temporal confusion," he says.

"I actually play two characters (pictured left and below). It's all a little bit confusing really."

Despite his frustration with short-sighted telly execs who can't imagine him doing anything that doesn't have a castle and midgies in it, the 36-year-old Perthshireborn actor has kept himself busy with other projects.

With a little girl Martha to his actress wife Susan, he has family commitments.

And he's also involved behind the scenes. He admits to having several writing ideas, and co-produced last year's big Scottish cinema success story, the BAFTA winning Red Road.

He and his brother David's production company Sigma Films were behind the gritty and explicit flick.

Alistair says: "I've been working, just nothing as high profile as Monarch. I did a filmcalled Snuff: The Movie which was a horror project. It's a film about the making of a snuff film (the highly-controversial and illegal movies), which you never know if it's a real snuff film or not. Again it toys with the realms of reality."

It couldn't have been further away from the cosy on-off drama of Archie and Dawn Steele's Lexie in Monarch-land.

The Boglies would have been horrified to see Archie in such unsavoury surroundings. Then again, so impassioned are they that some have probably seen it.

"I was doing a play at the Edinburgh Festival last year, and every day we had people in the audience who had come from far and wide (America, Canada) to see me. Or rather, to see Archie.

It's deeply flattering, but deeply worrying too. It puts the pressure on. Especially as I played an alcoholic impoverished writer. That was a worry."

He adds: "I'm not doing things to try to offend people. But at the same time I can't not do something for fear of offending."

Reichenbach Falls, Thursday, BBC 4, 9pm

'When I come across execs who are unimaginative and can't really picture me doing anything else, apart from Archie, well that can be frustrating'

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Main Picrure: Steve Poole / Scope Features; IAN RANKIN-ESQUE... Alastair plays a successful crime writer