AS Scottish actor Alex Ferns prepares to leave River City in explosive fashion this Tuesday, we remember some other top villains of TV and film.
Gray O'Brien in Coronation Street
A murderer and money-obsessed womaniser, businessman Tony Gordon (O'Brien) went on the run from prison after feigning a heart attack. Having instigated a hostage situation in the underwear factory, he set the building alight and died in the subsequent explosion.
Iain Cuthbertson in Super Gran
The Scunner Campbell (Cuthbertson) was the nemesis of Super Gran in Jenny McDade's TV adaptation of the books by Forrest Wilson. Among his dastardly deeds was a plot to destroy the fictional town of Chistleton using a giant tidal wave.
Alan Cumming in Take The High Road
He may have played Bond baddie Boris Grishenko in Goldeneye (an archetypal Russian computer whizz who coined the immortal catchphrase: "I am invincible!"), but Cumming's portrayal as evil woodcutter Jim Hunter in Take The High Road was arguably far more terrifying.
Sean Connery in Highlander
Christopher Lambert's awful Scottish accent as warrior Connor MacLeod was the biggest rotter of the piece. Connery as an Egyptian-Spanish immortal (with trademark Edinburgh burr) comes a close second. Oh, they were both goodies in the film. It's for heinous crimes against dialect.
Glasgow-born Carlyle has made a career from playing miscreants. Sample offerings include shaven-headed, disaffected Albie Kinsella in Cracker, Bond villain Renard in The World Is Not Enough and Begbie in Trainspotting. Oh, and Adolf Hitler in TV mini-series Hitler: The Rise of Evil.
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