The final frontier… Actor Martin Quinn becomes the first Scotsman to play Scotty in Star Trek as he stars in upcoming prequel series of the sci-fi show after Englishman Simon Pegg previously took the iconic role

For the first time in the Star Trek’s 59-year history, dour engineer Scotty in the sci-fi show is to be played by a Scot.

And actor Martin Quinn is to coin a new catchphrase for the popular character when he uses the Scots slang word ‘bawheid’ for the first time on the sci-fi show.

The term, which appears in the Oxford English Dictionary, often refers to a stupid person or ‘as a term of mild abuse’.

Quinn is the first Scot to play the part that was previously filled by Canadian star James Doohan and English actor Simon Pegg.

Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott has been a character in the science fiction franchise since it first began in 1966.

Star Trek’s Scotty is to be played by a Scot, actor Martin Quinn

Simon Pegg as Scotty in Star Trek Beyond, 2016. (Photo Credit: Paramount, Everett, REX, Shutterstock)

Actor James Doohan as Lt. Commander Montgomery Scotty Scott in 1967

Doohan played Scotty in the original series and seven Star Trek films before Pegg took on the role for director JJ Abrams’ reboots from 2009.

Now Quinn is portraying a younger version of the character in the prequel series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Quinn’s young Scotty appeared as a surprise cameo at the end of the show’s second season and he returns in season three.

Quinn, from, of Paisley, said he has been allowed to add some personal touches to the original character.

He said: ‘They let me put in the word “baw-heid” instead of “turnip-heid”.

‘Maybe they think all Scottish people are farmers? But they were very gracious about it.

‘And the writers are wanting to be authentic to Scotland as well, and that’s really nice, not everyone’s like that.’

Quinn said he is also trying to bring elements of his hometown to the Star Trek role.

He told the BBC: ‘We are rebranding him. He’s from Paisley now.

‘I was always into Star Wars because Ewan McGregor was there. It’s because there was a Scottish guy in Star Wars.

‘Even though he was doing an English accent, I was like “that’s so cool, he’s from here and he’s in Hollywood”.’

He added: ‘I think James Doohan based the character off some Aberdonian he had heard, and even Linlithgow has claimed him, but I’m not sure what that’s from.’

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