US site apologises to Outlander star over Shotts 'armpit' misquote

A US entertainment website has apologised to the "people of Shotts" and Caitriona Balfe after a misquoting the Outlander actress calling the town "an armpit".

Balfe, who played Clare Randall in the popular time-traveling romantic drama, said the North Lanarkshire town would win the award for "worst location shoot".

She made the comment while answering questions alongside co-star Sam Heughan for the website Gold Derby, who have now apologised for an "editing error".

The unedited transcript shows the actress made the comment about about a "particular place" in the town, rather than Shotts as a whole.

On social media, a spokesperson for Gold Derby said: "We have removed a video featuring Outlander stars Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan. Due to an editing error, Caitriona Balfe was misquoted in the clip.

"Gold Derby deeply regrets the error and sincerely apologizes to Caitriona Balfe, the people of Shotts, and everyone involved."

The company also released an unedited transcript of the clip.

Balfe said: "It's a particular place in Shotts. I just want to be specific. It's not the town - the little village.

"They found an old dump that was also kind of a swamp, and we were there for over a week, and our sets kept getting attacked, and it was not my favourite place."

The Daily Record reported that Dublin-born Balfe and the Outlander crew filmed near Hartwood Hill, near the site of an abandoned hospital in 2024.

However a source claimed the shoot was disrupted by gangs of youths, who stole a quad bike and set it on fire.

The production also had problems with the ground being impenetrable.

The Spotlight Shotts community group previously told BBC Scotland News the flippant comment was hurtful to people in the town.

Outlander, which concluded earlier this year, focused on the relationship between Balfe's character - a nurse in the modern day - and Heughan, who played Jacobite Jamie Fraser.

The show has been praised for boosting Scotland's tourism.