John Hannah

Introducing John Hannah, one of Scotland's pure diamonds and incredible talents with a treasure trove of a career, including incredible film and television roles from drama to comedy to sci-fi and in between. Stewart Christie had the immense privilege of styling Mr Hannah in a tweed suit for his current role in BBC One's forthcoming drama, The Victim.

Name John Hannah

Occupation Actor

Was it an easy transition for a boy from East Kilbride to become a Hollywood star, leaving Scotland for the bright lights?

Although it may seem a long way from EK to LA. Like all journeys it starts with a single step. Or even a thought; I want something else, something more. And that is the catalyst to change. So you go to drama school, you start to get experience as an actor, working, learning, building up a CV, becoming more experienced, more confident, then suddenly one day, maybe ten years down the road. Boom, you catch a break. You get lucky. No kidding. I think it may have been Colin Montgomery who said, “the more I practice, the luckier I get”. Whoever said it, when your chance comes, you’ve got to be ready for it. I was ready.

With your varied roles over your career so far, you must have travelled the world. What was your most interesting location and what did you learn there?

Travel they say broadens the mind. I’ve been lucky enough to travel quite a bit. I'm always reminded there are good people and not so good people everywhere. What have I learned: Bears can’t run downhill. Crocodiles can’t climb trees and I’m excellent at getting more into a suitcase that you would’ve thought possible.

For you current role, Stewart Christie provided one of the suits for your character. It was interesting to watch you carefully pick the outfit with your character's traits in mind. Do you often get to do this?

Working with the designer and Stewart Christie to “find” the costume was also a process of finding the character. Police officers can be more difficult than more character driven drama. And while Kelly and James were the ‘characters’ Grover is a more unknown quantity. He has a job to do and it’s of no use to anyone to become a character in other peoples' drama. So you build a back story with fragments, possibilities and with the idea of what might be useful. The only things I’d been thinking was perhaps a military background in logistics or intelligence. I discussed this with Ali and she brought me to you. It became a really interesting experience to have the wealth of your heritage knowledge alongside a very contemporary take on fabrics and cuts. Things started to fall into place and it became a fairly straightforward process of finding something that felt comfortable and organic.

Is there any item of clothing which you have kept from any roles which you really enjoyed wearing?

Quite often after ‘being ‘ a character it’s a relief to shake them off- and that includes their clothes. However, I think I might have grown into a Stewart Christie Brand.

As an avid cyclist, have you any trips planned after your current filming across in Glasgow? Hopefully away from any canals.

I’m doing a five day cycle ride in June through Italy down to Split in Croatia so I doubt I’ll be wearing the suit there. However, there are a couple of heritage rides that are popular. Tweeds would definitely be the way to go there.

They say that there is a certain romance in motoring, would you agree?

Along with heritage bikes, I think watches, cameras, cars and now clothing are appealing for all the same reasons. Sean Connery as Bond driving an Aston Martin wearing a Prince of Wales check 3 piece suit. I wonder what watch he had on. Of course he was pretty particular about his weapons also! Not that I know anything about that.

Special thanks to John Hannah for this delightful profile.

All garments and styling by Stewart Christie & Co.

Photography by Laura Meek