EXCLUSIVE: Former pro Scottish footballer has urged show creator Jed Mercurio to schedule production around World Cup matches
Martin Compston will not let Line Of Duty stop him from watching Scotland at next year’s World Cup.
The 41-year-old actor will reprise his role as DS Steve Arnott when the BBC crime drama returns for a seventh series. But he has urged the show’s creator Jed Mercurio to schedule production around matches at the tournament in the US next summer. Scotland will be playing at a World Cup for the first time in 28 years. Martin told talkSPORT: “I’ve already said to Jed, ‘You need to find me time or kill me off’ because I’ve been waiting for this.
“The last one we were there I was 14 – the last time we were at a World Cup. I remember thinking and saying to the lads, ‘We’re 18 in the next one, we’re going’. And now I’m in my 40s.
“So I’m not missing it. I’m definitely getting to something.”
Martin, who was born in Greenock, Inverclyde, was himself a promising footballer and a youth player at Aberdeen.
After leaving school he signed for local professional club Greenock Morton and made two first-team appearances in the 2001-02 season which saw the club relegated to the Scottish Third Division.
He played for Greenock Juniors before successfully auditioning for the lead role in director Ken Loach’s movie Sweet Sixteen despite never acting before.
Compston’s performance earned him a most promising newcomer award at the British Independent Film Awards. Filming for the seventh season of the BBC’s hit police corruption drama will begin in Belfast next spring.
Martin has promised the long wait for new episodes will be worth it for fans – particularly those left disappointed by how the previous series ended in 2021.
He said: “I think it was getting to the point, if you leave too, too long between it, I mean, I think it is great to leave the distance because it gives Jed time to write it and come up with a proper storyline.
“I mean, it’s fantastic. Already it’s a proper page turner. So with that you’ve got to come from a solid base rather than just commission it.
“Like the scripts are brilliant and we’re all excited to get back.”
Martin will be returning alongside co-stars Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar – who play DI Kate Fleming and Supt Ted Hasting respectively – for the new series.
The actor said: “Line Of Duty has been a job of a lifetime. “Not only in terms of the show’s success but the people I’ve had the opportunity to work with I now call some of my closest friends.
“I can’t wait to pull the waistcoat on again and get the team back together.”
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