Susan Calman is said to be the leading choice to play Nicola Sturgeon in the Channel 5 drama about the downfall of her disgraced husband, Peter Murrell.
The comic, 51, has already auditioned for the part and is said to have impressed casting bosses, who want a Scot for the movie-length role so there’s no controversy over her accent, according to the Scottish Daily Express..
Another competitor for the role, Janette Tough, who plays Wee Jimmy Krankie, is said to have been ruled out by the Channel 5 Casting director.
The SNP refused to take part in the Calman Commission, which was sharply criticised by both Ms Sturgeon – who was then Deputy First Minister – and other Nats because it wouldn’t consider the option of full independence.
In the end, however, the Nats came round to the idea after Sir Kenneth’s report recommended more devolution to Holyrood, including tax-raising powers and control over airguns, speed limits and drink drive laws.
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According to the Scottish Sun, an insider at the Channel 5 production – working title ‘To Nicola, Love Peter’ – confirmed that Susan Calman was in the frame. Susan has already auditioned for the role,” they said.
“Apparently they’re looking for a Scot for the part because they don’t want to have the distraction of someone trying to do a Scottish accent. Susan was well received and is now waiting to hear if she’s got the part. The fact that she has done work for Channel 5 will increase her chances.”
Like Sturgeon, 56, Edinburgh-born Calman was previously a lawyer before changing careers. In 2019 she made the Secret Scotland series for Channel 5 before going on to film several travel shows for the broadcaster – including one in which she travelled the UK in a vintage campervan.
A luxury £124k motorhome was the most infamous of the thousands of items Murrell purchased using money he stole from the SNP, over 12 years while he was the party chief executive and living with Sturgeon at their marital home in Glasgow.
She claimed she had “no conscious memory” of seeing the 24ft-long tourer parked in the driveway of her mother-in-law’s house in Dunfermline. Murrell, 61, was jailed in May for five years and three months.
A spokesman for Calman denied any connection to the show. Her father, a surgeon and oncologist who became Chief Medical Officer in Scotland and then England, died in July 2025, aged 83.
What a tragedy that wee Jimmy Cranky has apparently.declined to play Nicola Sturgeon.
The similarities are striking. She would have been excellent. Mayve however the poison dwarf or alternatively Saint Theresa might be available.