Martin Compston went straight from being a youth footballer at Greenock Morton, his hometown club, to a starring role in Ken Loach’s film Sweet Sixteen. Success at the Cannes Film Festival propelled him onto rising star lists and made him an untrained actor in demand.
Instead of trying his luck in Hollywood, Compston decided to serve an apprenticeship and perfect his acting game with a regular role on television in Monarch of the Glen. There have been indie film roles since then, and he played the lead in The Wee Man, directed by Ray Burdis, set in Glasgow’s gangland.
It’s been a creditable if low-key career, built from that first chance handed to him by veteran director Ken Loach in Greenock.
Another transformative opportunity came when he was cast as DS Steve Arnott in BBC police drama Line of Duty. The inventive, thrilling first series became BBC2’s best-performing drama series in 10 years with 4.1 million viewers. Compston was front and centre.
The second series of six episodes was even better than the first. With smart dialogue and dramatic twists, Compston had a role he could really get his teeth into and the critics were quick to hail his performance.
While watching another excellent police drama last night, the return of Idris Elba as Luther, we tweeted Martin Compston to check when the next series of Line of Duty will be on our screens and he replied to confirm that the show is expected to return in 2016.
The BBC has commissioned two new seasons and Line of Duty is scheduled to move into production in the new year with a screening date to follow. This will give plenty of opportunity for Compston to make the most of his latest role. We look forward to watching.
For all the folk asking the same should be in the new year hopefully, fingers crossed worth the wait https://t.co/MfbjQtgQiW
— martin compston (@martin_compston) December 22, 2015