He is best known for playing Detective Inspector Steve Arnott in Line of Duty, but Scottish actor Martin Compston vividly remembers his big break as a schoolboy.
He was stopped by a teacher in the corridor at St Columba’s High School in Gourock and told that a film crew was looking for children to act in a film.
“I remember Mr Harkins saying: ‘What they describe, I think you are exactly that. I think you should meet them,'” he told BBC Scotland. “Looking back, that probably means one little guy who had way too much to say for himself.”
Compston auditioned for and landed the lead in Ken Loach’s dark drama Sweet Sixteen, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
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The film tells the story of Liam, a troubled teenager who dreams of starting over with his mother once she completes her sentence.
Liam’s attempts to raise money for the two take place against a backdrop of the Inverclyde towns of Greenock – where Compston is from – Port Glasgow and the coast at Gourock.
He won the Best Screenplay award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
“In some ways it feels like it’s been ages, but in other ways I have such vivid memories of it,” said Compston, 37. “I’ve seen videos recently of my time in Cannes — that voice is like nails on a chalk board, it even goes right through me. but i’m very proud of it.
“It was a great time in my life and I will forever be grateful to Ken Loach, Paul Laverty (writer) and Rebecca O’Brien (producer) for giving me a chance and putting me on the path to getting this far go, a very nice career.”
To celebrate the 20th anniversary, Sweet Sixteen will be screened at the Glasgow Film Festival on Sunday, with Compston attending a Q&A afterwards. It’s already sold out.
The actor, who lives between Scotland and Las Vegas with his wife and young son, is proud of his Scottish roots and speaks with great affection for his hometown of Greenock.
Speaking from his Vegas home, he said, “I love it here, but Greenock is and will always be my home. All my family and friends are here. We are very fortunate to have two homes – it’s fantastic to have that [Las Vegas home] as a kind of short vacation for me.
“I’m so thankful for how nice people are to me back home, especially in Inverclyde. You always feel like people are cheering for you in Scotland, but it’s nice to come here and just have the anonymity.
“It’s quiet – I don’t have to plan my trips to Tesco or whatever and dress up. I can take the little guy to the park and be silly with him without having to worry about cameras and such. But at the same time I’m coming home next week and I’m practically home for the rest of the year and I can’t wait.
“I have no illusions about how fortunate we are to have this kind of double life. We are very fortunate to live in a great place in Greenock and my son loves it there. He’s a happy, happy boy.”
As a father, Compston said, “I’m probably a little calmer because you have to be. I think most people would have described me as sociable, I liked to be out in the evenings. I still am, but you gotta make a choice, choose your battles these days. When my wife isn’t working, I have to be the number one parent, which is great.
After seeing Compston with a London accent on Line of Duty, many fans assume he is English and are surprised to hear him speak with a Scottish accent like he does in his latest drama Our House.
“I did it [acting] 20 years now so I hope people start to get the message,” he said.
“People ask me all the time why they give me an English accent [for Line of Duty] but it was never a discussion, I’m an actor, it’s my job and the character was from London.
“It’s hard, it’s a different element. You go in and you have to have 20 pages of incredibly dense dialogue with great actors – throw an accent in there, it can be tricky.
“But the good thing about being able to keep my own accent is that I feel like we can show a bit of charm with the Scots.”
When asked if Line of Duty will be returning for a seventh series, he said: “We’re in no different position than we’ve ever been. It’s probably just that the show is getting more attention now and more people want to know are we coming back.
“But we’ve always left a huge gap between shows – up to two years straight – so Jed (Mercurio – creator) will just take his time and if he feels like there’s a story to tell, he will.” get in touch with us. We would all love to work together again, but only under the right circumstances.”
Compston has formed a great friendship with Jed Mecurio and fellow Line of Duty actors Adrian Dunbar and Vicky McClure over the years.
“We’ve been doing Line of Duty for over 10 years now, so they’re a big part of my life,” he said. “They really are some of my best friends.”
The group will all head to Greenock on Saturday night to attend a fundraiser for Ardgowan Hospice, which is supported by Compston.
“I called the guys and right away the three of them said let’s do it,” he said, a few pounds for the hospice.”
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