Edinburgh private hire driver has double life rubbing shoulders with Hollywood stars

An Edinburgh private hire driver has told of his double life - rubbing shoulders with the stars as a TV and film extra when not ferrying folk around the capital.

Stevie Mac, 64, signed up to agencies providing extras for some of our favourite shows seven years ago - and has since secured roles in some of the biggest hits filmed locally.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Stevie lifted the lid on life behind the scenes on some of the capital's biggest productions. And gave us the inside track on some huge industry names.

READ MORE - 'I'm 62 and my husband is 25 - I have to take my teeth out to eat but he loves me'

READ MORE - Edinburgh actress fumes 'I have three kids and a mortgage' as she makes plea online

One of his favourite films to take part in was Trainspotting 2, where he recalls how lovely Danny Boyle was. He says: “Danny had many assistant directors to look after all the extras so he didn’t have to really come and talk to us - but he did, he had so much time for us all, even if he didn’t chat to you he acknowledged everyone.

“That doesn’t happen on set very much - most of the time you are told not to approach talent or directors and such.”

Spending most of his working life as an engineer at Hewlett-Packard, Stevie took early retirement when his wife, Jane, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Jane has recovered so far and is doing well.

After taking up extra work, he was even asked to do some modelling, of which he quips: "I can actually say, I am a model now!".

Most recently he worked on the new Sky drama series about the Lockerbie bombing, which stars Colin Firth. Stevie also worked earlier this year on the Netflix Scandinavian drama, Department Q which stars Kelly Macdonald, Mark Bonnar and Shirley Henderson.

He has worked on many television shows throughout the years including Amazon prime series Belgravia: The Next Chapter where he had a nude scene in “Turkish Baths”. The scene included Holby City favourite Liam Garrigan as Mr Fletcher. He joked: "I was paid an extra £250 for the nude scene - so not bad eh!" Liam happily posed with Stevie for a picture.

He also was an extra in the recent Amazon tennis series, Fifteen-Love which was filmed in and around Edinburgh. Stevie has also done one of the most coveted roles for any extra in Scotland - Outlander. He has been in a few of the series, developing a fondness for star Sam Heughan.

Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.

He says: “Sam is one of the loveliest main actors I have met all these years as a film extra. He brought in a huge tray of brownies specifically for all the extras and came round and chatted to each and every one of us. He made the brownies himself, not store bought!

“He is such an engaging and lovely guy, Caitriona [Balfe] does chat to us but is a lot quieter than him, he is so chatty and interactive with everyone.”

Stevie says wife Jane is such a massive Sam Heughan fan, she turned up to a marathon Stevie was running only because the Outlander star was running that year too.

Sharing some interesting insider knowledge of Outlander, Stevie tells us the producers require men to be clean shaven - before adding beard props on.

He adds: “I don’t do it for the money as such - that is a bonus - but to meet and chat to people. One other extra has become a lifelong friend, and she’s now much better friends with my wife.

“Now after doing it for so long, I always tend to see someone I know on set from previous productions.

“I was really excited to do River City, but the rates are so low and they don’t feed you which pretty much every other production will do. So after petrol and food and commissions you don’t get much for those roles.”

Spending all day on set can be hungry work and, gladly, Stevie says catering for most productions is top notch. He adds: “Can’t complain - the food is great everywhere, you just have to buy your own food from the BBC canteens!”

Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox