Peter Capaldi tends to keep his private life with his TV producer wife, Elaine Collins, out of the spotlight. But in a new interview, the Doctor Who star gave an insight into the couple’s working relationship.
The husband and wife work together on Apple TV’s gripping crime thriller, Criminal Record, in which Peter stars as London detective DCI Daniel Hegarty opposite Cush Jumbo’s DS June Lenker.
Elaine, who developed the primetime dramas Vera and Shetland, is an executive producer on the detective series, which returns with its second season on 22 April.
Appearing on ITV’s This Morning alongside his co-star Cush on Friday, Peter was full of praise for his other half.
Sharing an insight into what it’s like to work with Elaine on Criminal Record, the Scottish star told hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond: “It’s fantastic. That’s how I got the job.
© Apple TV“She’s brilliant,” he continued. “It’s great to have somebody there who can be very frank with you and say, ‘You’re not going to do it like that.'”
When asked if Elaine is harder on Peter when giving notes to actors on-set, Cush said: “I think so, but I’ve got to be honest, Elaine is the most amazing observer of what we’re doing and she’s always right.”
“She is always right,” confirmed Peter.
Elaine’s impressive TV career
While Elaine began her career as an actress and held various TV and film roles, including in Taggart and Play for Today, she established herself in showbiz as a successful producer.
The 67-year-old executive produced and helped develop the long-running ITV series Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn and based on Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope crime novels. She also adapted another of Ann’s novel series, Shetland, for the BBC, which is returning this year with its 11th season.
© Helen WilliamsIn 2017, she founded film production company Tod Productions, which produces Criminal Record for Apple TV in collaboration with STV Studios.
How Peter and Elaine first met
The couple first crossed paths whilst starring in a touring theatre production with the Paines Plough Theatre Company in the 1980s.
Peter and Elaine tied the knot in 1991 and welcomed their only child, a daughter named Cecily, in 1992. They have since become grandparents to Cecily’s two sons, who were reportedly born in 2021 and 2023.
Criminal Record isn’t the only project the pair have collaborated on. The duo worked together on the 1992 rom-com Soft Top Hard Shoulder and the 1995 Oscar-winning short film, Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life, which Peter wrote and directed.
© Getty ImagesIn his acceptance speech at the 1995 Academy Awards, The Thick of It actor praised his wife for her influence on the film. “Elaine Collins was the real creative dynamo behind all this,” he told the audience.
Elaine has also been very complimentary of Peter’s work. Ahead of the release of Criminal Record in 2024, the producer hailed her husband’s performance as “fantastic”.
“We genuinely had a great time and it was amazing to have that support system at work and at home,” she told RadioTimes.com. “Of course, you bring it home – you’re living and breathing a show while you’re making it – but that was genuinely great. He’s always a support system for me. Hand on heart, we’re best friends.”
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