Blythe Duff

Blythe Duff (born 25 November, 1962 in East Kilbride, Scotland) is a Scottish actress, best known for her role as Jackie Reid in the ITV drama, "Taggart".

Blythe's love of acting started with a school production of "The Wizard of Oz" - she was immediately hooked and from that moment on she knew she wanted to be an actress. In fact she only ever had one other ambition and that was to be a mounted policewoman.

Her career started with The Scottish Youth and Community Theatre which took her all over Glasgow but earned her only £25.00 a week.

Blythe worked in the theatre for 7 years before she landed the role in "Taggart". After appearing as a community WPC in 'Death Comes Softly' it was decided that the character would be promoted and seconded to CID.

Blythe was told she would have to drive during filming, clearly a question the production team had failed to ask since Blythe couldn't drive. Knowing that filming started in 3 weeks time she took a crash course of lessons, but failed her test. Devastated, Blythe didn't want to be driving Jim Taggart around Glasgow with L plates. Luckily 28 days later she passed her test.

Blythe has become the longest serving member of the "Taggart" cast after James Macpherson left the show in 2001.

Some would say it was appropriate that in March 1998 Blythe married ex Detective Sergeant Tom Forrest. Somehow the police had always featured in her life; the dream of being a mounted police woman, playing a police woman on TV and then settling down with her very own genuine policeman.

Tom left the police force and with Blythe, set up a property restoration business. The company, called Blue Door Property has Blythe as its secretary and Tom as its Director.

The couple have two children.

When not filming "Taggart", Blythe likes to get back into the theatre. Despite her success on TV she still sees herself as theatre actress first, TV actress second.

Blythe Duff now has a rather squalid sideline advertising a company on TV that offers debt consolidation services. People should avoid these firms like the plague. They charge high fees for their service, so you fall deeper into debt. They can also damage your credit rating and in extreme cases you could lose your home if you take out an expensive secured loan and can't keep up the payments. If you are in debt and are finding it hard to manage, talk to your local Citizens Advice Bureau, or local Council Trading Standards or Money Advice Service. They will offer FREE advice on your options. This will generally involve coming to realistic arrangements with creditors, using legal arrangements designed to avoid the kind of problems that parasitic moneylenders present.

Television

*"Scottish Passport" - Presenter
*"Jack Doherty Show" - Guest
*"Antiques Scotland" - Guest Star
*"Win Lose Or Draw" - Guest
*"Songs of Praise" - Readings
*"Get It On" - Guest
*"Scottish Book Awards" - Extract Readings
*"Spirit of Christmas" - Readings of a Christmas Carol

Radio

*"The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" - played Katrina (BBC Radio 3)
*"Morning Story" - played Iphiginia (BBC Radio Scotland)
*"Blending In" - played Irene (BBC Radio 3)
*"Sheila" - title role (BBC Radio Scotland)
*"Just a Minute" - Blythe Duff was a panellist on several editions of the long-running panel game recorded at the Edinburgh Fstival during the late 1990s.

Theatre

*"Three Sisters" - played Masha (Tron Theatre)
*"Sharp Shorts" - various characters (Traverse, Edinburgh)
*"Swing Hammer Swing" - played Rhona Clay (Citizens', Glasgow)
*"To" - played landlady (Cumbernauld)
*"Tally's Blood" - played Lucia (Traverse)
*"Street Scene" - played Shirley Kaplan (Scottish Opera)
*"Still Life" - played Lucille (Unit One)
*"Sheila" - Title Role (Traverse)
*"Checking Out" - played Pauline (Cumbernauld)
*"Beauty and the Beast" - played Hazel (Royal Lyceum)
*"Shakers" - played Mel (Cumbernauld)
*"Across The Barricades" - played Sadie
*"Beggar's Opera" - played Lucy Lockett (Lyceum)
*"The Lucky Ones" - played Debbie

Trivia

*Blythe sings.
*She performed on the soundtrack album to the play "Street Scene" in which she played Shirley Kaplan (Decca records 1989).
*She also sang in a Country and Western TV Special. Feeling very self conscious, she didn't enjoy it and now saves her singing for her own ears only.

External links

*imdb name|id=0240364