James MacPherson (born 18 March, 1960) is a Scottish actor, best known for his role as Detective Michael Jardine in the ITV drama, Taggart. MacPherson was raised in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. He left Hamilton Grammar School at 17 and got a job as a laboratory technician at Glasgow's Institute of Neurosciences at the Southern General Hospital. Part of his job was to collect brain samples for experimentation. MacPherson worked in the lab for five years and met his future wife Jacqueline while there. MacPherson went for an interview to be a police officer, but soon realised he didn't have the requisite personality for the job. It was then that his thoughts turned to acting. He joined an amateur dramatics group in Motherwell, before moving onto a repertory theatre in East Kilbride and a place in drama school. It was after MacPherson landed the part in BBC Radio 4's Citizens that his television career began to take off. While based in London, MacPherson auditioned for a part in the children's series Dramarama but was unsuccessful. Then in 1986, his agent told him about the part that had come up in Taggart, and, having regained his Glasgow accent (which had been diluted by working in London), he was offered the part. Initially, the character of Jardine was to be a foil to DC Livingstone, assistant of DI Jim Taggart (Mark McManus) but when Neil Duncan left the show shortly after MacPherson joined, he felt sure his own time with the show would be short lived. In reality, he was already being lined up as Jim Taggart's permanent right-hand man. He became the central character following McManus' death in 1994. In 2000, James appeared in a Channel 4 Schools History series 'The Scots Detective', playing DI Scott. In July 2002, he set up an acting company, with fellow Scots actress Emma Currie, called Acting Up. (via Wikipedia)