Alex Salmond stars as ghost in Pakistani TV show

The non-speaking cameo lasts less than a second but it’s undeniably the face of the man who campaigned so hard for Scottish independence.

His face appears briefly on a bronze bust within the house before vanishing as quickly as it appears.

The Castle, a Pakistani television soap, was named so because it was set in a haunted Scottish castle.

It was produced by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, an SNP politician, and gives a thank you to Salmond in the closing credits of all 24 episodes.

Any notion that this could be a lookalike were dispelled after Salmond seemingly confirmed the story with Buzzfeed.

“My Bollywood cameo as a ghostly spirit was filmed the last time I stood down as SNP leader,” Salmond explained.

“This time round I’m hoping to haunt the House of Commons, rather like Banquo’s ghost.

“It was, it has to be said, a non-speaking role – not one I hope to assume in Westminster.

“As you would expect, I took some acting lessons from Sean Connery at the time to make sure the audience was both shaken and stirred.”

• An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified The Castle as a Bollywood production, and not a Pakistani soap opera