Jordan Young is basically living the dream.

As well as being one of Scotland's most loved telly criminals for years, the actor has also been having a ball on the other side of the thin blue line more recently.

Starring as fan favourite and lovable gangster Alex Murdoch in River City for almost a decade, Jordan also gets to walk the beat of the country's law enforcers these days, thanks to his part in BBC Scotland's cult cop comedy Scot Squad.


The dad-of-two has never been busier - and he's feeling pretty grateful to be enjoying one of the most prolific periods of his career.

"I'm just glad to be working to be honest, it gets me out the house," he joked as Glasgow Live caught up with him recently.

"Any actor would say the same, you're not going to moan about having regular work.

"I adore my job and am very lucky, it's the dream and the whole point of doing this is to play as many diverse roles as you can, so I love having the opportunity to do such different things.

"But I can't pick my favourite character, that's too hard, they're too different, but it's good to be on both sides!"


Jordan returns to screens as ladies man PC Jack McLaren in the fifth series of the smash hit spoof police show tonight.

As one half of the programme's urban cop pairing (Jordan stars alongside old pal, actress Sally Reid) he spends his summer break from River City shooting scenes across the streets of Glasgow.

Following a fictional Scottish force and its officers as they go about their business up and down the country, the fly-on-the-wall police parody, also starring comedian Jack Docherty, Grado and Darren Connell, has rocketed in popularity since its launch in 2014.

And though he might be a wee bit biased, Jordon isn't surprised at its success.

He said: "No one had a clue how big it would be and I think it's because it didn't come out claiming to be anything, it was a bit under the radar for the first couple of series.

"It didn't have a big budget, it wasn't massively advertised and Jack Docherty was really the only established performer.

"So it was one of those things that people got into a bit slower, and it's grown, which I'm so pleased about because I absolutely love it."

He added: "I am a fan as well as part of it.

"I love watching because we never really know what anyone else is doing, so we get to see it fresh like any viewer.

"The only time we see the other cast is when we do a group photo, which we haven't done for ages.

"So although we're all part of the same show, and I know people like Darren and Grado, we don't actually know each other that well.

"The strength of the show is the characters, and the fact there is something for everyone.

"So you might like Jack and Sarah, but you'll like someone else, in fact all my friends and family have different favourites, and it's never me!"


The show is unscripted, which puts a bit more pressure on the stars, but they relish the opportunity to get creative.

Jordan said: "I love improv, I absolutely love it, it's not for everybody and it doesn't make you better than other actors if you enjoy it, it's just a different style.

"Sometimes we talk nonsense for 15 minutes and all they'll get is ten seconds of telly.

"It's mostly nonsense to be fair.

"I can be chatting away on one train of thought then end up down a blind alley with words coming out that bear no resemblance to what I started with, so I stop, and hope Sally will pick it up.

"But it's so chilled and relaxed when we are filming, the atmosphere is amazing and the crew are brilliant, so you never feel under pressure to be funny, you just go with it.

"That's the beauty of it, you can do anything and if it's rubbish they'll say 'whit you talking aboot?' Then move on. It's a truly brilliant job."


Fife-born Jordan revealed programme makers aren't really bothered by many troublemakers when they're filming across Glasgow, though his eyes have been opened to some of the abuse faced by the real life boys and girls in blue.

He said: "We do loads in the city centre and, though we do get loads of people shouting, we never really get any bother.

"There was one instance when we were walking up Buchanan Street and some wee bams were walking behind us calling us 'pigs', which the real police have told us is just par for the course, so they're used to it."


Thankfully, the professionals are also big supporters of the show.

Jordan added: "The police seem to love it, we've had nothing but positive feedback.

"My old next door neighbour was police and he told me they all watch it and all look forward to it, so that's a relief."

Scot Squad returns tonight (Thursday) at 10pm on BBC Scotland.
