River City star on his dramatic storyline and 'scary' new role

“Glaswegians have A LOT to say about you,” laughs the Paisley-born actor, who plays Mikey.

“Oh, I’ve had it all. I get people saying, ‘oh, you’re not as fat in real life as you are on the telly’, for example.

“One woman practically followed me into Marks and Spencer’s, holding my hand, telling me how worried she was about Mikey, and ‘that Jonathon’, and how he was bad news…. I remember thinking, wow, she is REALLY into it….”

That particular fan could have a point, of course, as viewers are about to see Mikey get married to the aforementioned is-he-a-baddie-or-is-he-a-goodie Jonathon (played by Edward Corrie) in a dramatic double wedding episode on BBC Scotland on Wednesday (May 1).

As he and his beau tie the knot alongside his dad, Mulvaney (Laurie Ventry) and Bernie (Barbara Rafferty), Mikey’s emotions are all over the place. On his mind is his recent fall-out with best friend Gillian (Gail Watson) who is suspicious of Jonathon and his controlling behaviour.

“It’s a wee shame for Mikey,” agrees Darren. “He is just desperate to be loved, really. He’s got to that age where he thinks it’s something he’s just not going to have.

“And then the big dishy guy comes in, and takes away those feelings.”

He pauses. “I know I’ve done it before, that feeling you shouldn’t really be in a relationship with this person, but it’s better than being alone….”

The romance between doctor’s assistant Mikey and his boyfriend Jonathon has been a hot topic in Shieldinch for the last few months.

“Mikey just sees him as this person who loves him and will look after him, but he still doesn’t really know Jonathon,” says Darren.

“Mikey sees the best in people. And he’s someone who has been judged all his life, so he has decided not to do to Jonathon what has been done to him.”

Exciting things are on the horizon, teases Darren, but he won’t reveal if there’s a happy-ever-after for Mikey.

“It’s true that Jonathon does what he does because he really loves Mikey,” says Darren.

“But how often can you forgive someone for doing things that hurt you, just because they say they love you?

“I know people who have been so blinded by love that when horrible things have happened in their relationship, they were the last people to expect it. Everyone else around them gets what’s happening, but they just can’t see it. That is what is happening to Mikey.”

Darren, who grew up in Paisley, first fell in love with acting at PACE youth theatre group. He studied musical theatre at Knightswood Secondary’s Dance School of Scotland and is a leading light of Glasgow’s panto scene.

Darren in panto at the King's (Image: Richard Campbell)

River City is his first return to TV since a string of telly roles (My Barmy Aunt Boomerang, Love Me Tender, The James Gang) in his youth, when he appeared with his identical twin brother David.

“It was a big choice to come back to TV, but it has been brilliant,” he says. “I’m still learning, I learn every day.  It’s very different, technically, from theatre, of course, and if I don’t sit in the bath, learning my words the night before a scene, I know I’ll be rubbish the next day.”

Playing a gay character on River City, filming a same-sex wedding scene, is something Darren could not have imagined would ever happen when he was starting out as an actor.

“I’m quite jealous of the young team, actually,” he says. “I was brought up in a Catholic household and I spent the first 16 years of my life denying the person I was.

“I was lucky, in that I found dance and musical theatre, which was utterly accepting, and meant I could be me a bit quicker than lots of other young people could.

“Now there is so much more representation for young gay people, in the theatre, on TV…”

He breaks off, with a laugh: “I mean, people my age had Dale Winton, and that was about it.”

Darren pauses. “And now I am part of that representation, and I actually feel a huge sense of responsibility about that,” he says, slowly. “I want to do it right. It’s important.”

Darren’s next project is a move out of his comfort zone, he admits. He is directing Mumbelina, the summer panto at Oran Mor.

“It’s my first time,” he says, with a mock groan. “I had this mid-life crisis thing, where I decided I’d do something that scares me once a year, so this is the thing that scares me for 2024.”

He adds, with a laugh: “Och, it will be fine. And if I’m rubbish at it, I’ll just not do it again…”