Outlander star Caitriona Balfe’s is so in love with Scotland due to her role in the smash-hit series that she is happily married to a Scotsman as well.
Tony McGill has been married to the Irish actress since August 2019 and recently welcomed a baby boy, who the Clare Fraser actress was carrying while filming season six of Outlander.
But the Scots music producer’s career has been kept under wraps due to the pair’s very private life. He is known to be a musician and also owns a bar in London.
And another aspect of his social life was thrust to prominence late last week thanks to a radio interview involving Outlander star Lauren Lyle and broadcaster Gordon Smart.
He was covering for Irish comedian Patrick Kielty on his Saturday morning BBC Radio 5 Live show when they discussed the Scottish Six Degrees of Separation to link both the actress and Mr Smart.
It was discovered that the former Scottish Sun editor is actually very good friends with Mr McGill and mentioned that he manages iconic rock band The Fratellis.
The band is best known for their tune Chelsea Dagger which has been adopted by fans of the Scotland National Football Team and is often belted out at Hampden.
He was chatting to Ms Lyle about both Outlander and her new show, Karen Pirie, which is based on detective novels written by Val McDermid.
And the actress was describing how delighted she was that the drama had been given a second season by STV and that she was now being recognised in the street for two of her characters, with Marsali being the other one.
She said: “It’s been received so well and even when the first episode came out I went into ITV and the receptionist went ‘oh I love the show by the way’ and it was suddenly such a weird thing that I was starting to get recognised for it straight away.
“I’m always recognised for Outlander, especially when I’m in Scotland. If American fans are over and they see Marsali walking down the streets of Edinburgh, they absolutely fall apart, are beside themselves.
“It must be amazing to have this show you are so passionate about and then see one of the characters, it’s been really brilliant to get to do it again.”
This prompted Mr Smart to put forward an “amazing bit of music trivia” as he labelled it a “ridiculous six degrees of separation.” He said: “People might not know but Caitriona Balfe from Outlander is married to an amazing fella called Tony McGill who is a very good pal of mine.
“Now, Tony McGill, for anyone thinking why’s he mentioning this, it’s Scottish nonsense. Tony McGill manages a band you will know called the Fratellis. So that’s what links Outlander to great music, Lauren Lyle to me today, and of course the much beloved Martin Compston who in Vigil for about 7 seconds.”
Mr McGill and Ms Balfe first went public in 2015 on social media and were later photographed attending the 2016 ceremony for Jodie Foster’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Source: scottishdailyexpress.co.uk