大象传媒

Iain Robertson plays Craig Stevenson

Single-minded, intense and slightly obsessed, Craig Stevenson was chuffed to bits when he won his place in Monaghan's department.

However, the reality of working alongside his mentor is proving frustrating for the prodigiously talented 25-year-old.

Whereas Monaghan's approach to the paranormal is cautious and considered - eager beaver Craig likes to go in with all guns blazing.

"Craig thinks he's the cock of the walk," says Iain. "He's been desperate to work in this department for as long as he can remember.

"Monaghan is to an extent both a hero and a father figure to him. So this has been a serious ambition of his to be here and now he's made it he thinks he is the dog's whatnots. He reckons he knows it all and desperately wants to impress Monaghan and make his mark."

Whilst Craig has been blessed with a towering intellect, he is somewhat wanting when it comes to emotional intelligence.

"He always gets off on the wrong foot with people," explains Iain. "He's very abrupt and sometimes thinks he's funny when in fact he is the furthest thing from funny he could possibly be.

"Craig can be very rude and I don't think he's the sort of guy who knows how to say sorry.

"There are a lot of times when he crosses the line and I noticed the other day that he has never ever apologised in any of the scripts.

"He views the people he encounters as merely case studies for him to further his research. He doesn't see them as people."

Like Craig, Iain believes wholeheartedly in the paranormal.

"I believe 100 per cent. I've been to mediums and whenever and whoever I go to it's always the same person and the same message that comes through - from my grandfather. Which is bizarre as he is a person I was never particularly close to. But it's definitely him, no doubt about it.

"For me, when it comes to the psychic world there are too many stories out there for there to be nothing in it. I really believe that.

"But it's up to the individual to decide and if you don't believe, well that's fair enough," he adds.

Iain - who won a Scottish Bafta aged 13 for his role in Brit-flick Small Faces - acknowledges he can also relate to his character's cockiness.

"I've been an actor for almost ten years now and there were times when I was younger, when I was still finding out who I was, where you become slightly obsessed about what you do at the expense of other things around you.

"When you're a young actor your ego is the size of a football pitch and there comes a point when that gets deflated.

"I think that time for me was when I did theatre, because theatre actors don't have any time for egos and tell you to just get on with it. Until I learnt those lessons I could certainly be a cocky so and so without realising it at all.

"So Craig is a very intelligent guy but, like I did, he is going to have to learn some serious lessons about life along the way - which he does," reveals Iain.

"With each investigation Craig is obsessed about finding the truth, but there is also an emotional development there as the series progresses, which is great as it shows a whole new side to his character.

"To start off with his emotions are very much in check, but by the end of the series he has begun to lose control and feelings he has suppressed for a long time are exposed.

"Through the final storyline he ends up having to face his own childhood demons - which is a real shock for him."

The Glasgow born actor was a big fan of the first series of Sea Of Souls and was thrilled to discover he'd won a role in his favourite show:

"It's just so well written and whether you believe in the supernatural or not, it's left to the audience to decide which point of view they want to take. No-one is trying to force anyone to believe.

"Sea Of Souls is a dream job - the scripts are great, the cast and crew are fantastic and you wake up every morning and can't wait to go to work."

Iain joined a youth theatre in Govan when he was 11 years old and two years later won a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.

Term began in the September and by the October he had already appeared in an educational TV series, Look & Read ("It was hilarious, I had to read out stories really slowly with Bonnie Tyler's niece"), and since then he's worked at the National Theatre and on TV in shows such as Rebus and Steven Spielberg's Band Of Brothers.

He says: "I was a bit of a loner when I was a kid and I just found acting this release for all the emotion I'd been bottling up. It was just something that captured me. I knew straight away it was what I wanted to do," he explains.

"Sometimes I do think, 'Did I make the decision too early?' but the places I've been and the people I have known, well, I wouldn't trade them for anything. I feel so privileged.

"Like the other day I walked onto the set and there was Bill Paterson, John Hannah and Colin Salmon all standing there and I thought, 'Wow. This is alright. It's better than working for a living."