THE leading Scottish actor Jack Lowden has said it is "embarrassing" that Scotland has yet to build a major film and TV studio.

Wardpark Studios in Cumbernauld, used to film the Outlander series, is as yet the only purpose-built facility in the country.

Lowden, who won a BAFTA Scotland award this weekend for his role in the Scottish-filmed thriller Calibre, said it was high time Scotland built a studio, and that the country had fallen behind the rest of the UK.

He echoed similar sentiments expressed at the awards by other actors and members of the screen world.

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Lowden, who grew up in the Borders, also found time to thank the amateur operatic and musical companies he was involved with as a youth, an influence he said had been vital on his career and had "helped form my opinion of the world."

Lowden, whose films have included Tommy's Honour, Dunkirk and Mary Queen of Scots, where he plays Lord Darnley, he said: "There is no debate at all [about the need for a studio], we are the only home nation that does not have one.

"It is getting embarrassing, we have the means, we have the talent, we have the expertise, but they are having to go everywhere else - crews that I have worked with all over the world, there are people who have grown up in Scotland, trained in Scotland, but they are having to work all over the world.

"Which is fantastic for them, but for us: but we have an incredible backdrop which is used, for Mary, Queen of Scots, for Outlaw King, even The Fast and The Furious [in Glasgow].

"There is enough here, and there is enough 'want' to come here."

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He added: "It is a studio, it is not a nuclear sub lab, which we actually have, don't we?

"It's a film studio, it's not a very difficult thing to put together.

"I understand that it's a little bit more difficult than a village fair, but it's not that difficult, but it needs to happen.

"And it needs to happen as soon as possible, because if you look at the other nations and what they have produced, and what they can attract, and the true trickle-down effect, it is enormous.

"It's about time. It's kind of annoying."