Actor Jimmy Yuill, sacked in his sick-bed from the Sunday night hit ITV detective thriller Wycliffe, has been overwhelmed with messages of support from his many theatrical colleagues and friends and, most notably, from his home town in Golspie, Sutherland.
News of the termination of contract after five seasons, by Lord Hollick's United News and Media, which took over from original producers Harlech Television, leaked out ahead of the start of the new six-episode series this week.
Yuill plays the part of Detective Sergeant Doug Kersey, to Jack Shepherd's Chief Supt Charlie Wycliffe. Shepherd, upset at this off-screen development, has now threatened to end his connection with the series, watched by up to 11 million viewers nationwide.
''Jimmy was heart-broken and so was I. In many ways, he was the creative heart of the show and they ripped it out, half-way through the run.''
Yuill, the father of two children, aged 12 and nine, and now resident in Bristol, was fired as he lay in hospital in Truro, Cornwall, in February, while recovering from meningitis.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article