Martin Compston news, interviews and updates on the beloved actor
He joined Aberdeen's youth team as a teen and then signed professionally with his hometown club, Greenock Morton.
He made two substitute appearances in the 2001–02 Scottish Football League season before stepping away from the game to pursue acting.
Compston during a training session at Champneys Tring ahead of the Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2024 match (Image: Nigel French/PA Wire) Compston's first attempt at acting was for Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen which launched his career.
Read on for all the latest Martin Compston news, interviews and updates.
As reported by the Glasgow Times, here is a selection of the latest Martin Compston news stories.
First look at Martin Compston in hit ITV drama Red Eye
Martin Compston revealed worst thing about his 41st birthday
Plush Renfrewshire hotel visited by celebs reopened after makeover
Martin Compston is married to Tianna Chanel Flynn, an American actress. They tied the knot at his family's chapel in Greenock in 2016.
They have a son together.
Martin Compston and his wife Tianna Chanel Flynn (Image: Newsquest)
Compston is set to feature in the second series of hit ITV drama Red Eye alongside Jing Lusi, who returns as DS Hana Li.
ITV shared a first look at the new series on social media (Image: ITV) The thriller was one of ITV's top 10 dramas of 2024 and saw more than eight million viewers tune in with 29.3m streams on ITVX.
The actor was also recently seen in Amazon Prime's Fear, a three-part psychological thriller which was filmed in Glasgow.
The show had its world premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in February and was released on Prime in March.
Martin Compston in Fear (Image: Kirsty Ellis/Prime Video) The series is about a family who are 'pushed to their absolute limits'.
It also stars Anjli Mohindra, Solly McLeod, and Dumbarton's BAFTA-award-winning actor James Cosmo, among others.
Martin Compston is best known for his standout roles in hit TV series and popular films.
His popular TV series include his role as DI Steve Arnott in Line of Duty and Ewan Brodie in the beloved BBC show Monarch of the Glen.
Some of his movies are Sweet Sixteen, The Wee Man, and Mary Queen of Scots.
Compston is 5′ 8.
Martin Compston turned 41 on May 8.
Compston is a Celtic fan.
The actor partied with Hoops players after they won the Premier Sports Cup Final in 2024.
Martin Compston co-hosts the Restless Natives podcast with broadcaster Gordon Smart.
The weekly podcast was launched in August 2022, where the duo set themselves 'missions', inspired by the 1985 Scottish film Restless Natives, where they plot new schemes for fun and laughs.
The actor lives with his wife and son in Las Vegas.
He also owns a flat in Greenock to be near his parents on trips back home.
Norwegian Fling is a six-part BBC Scotland travel series in which Compston and Phil MacHugh retrace Norway's length, from Oslo to the Arctic Circle, on a 2,000-mile road trip.
The pair dive into modern Norwegian culture, from roller-skiing and sky-jump zip-lining near Oslo to crowd-surfing at a Black Metal gig and getting up close with a wolf in the wild.
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Time Magazine
5 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
A New Book Casts Elvis and the Colonel in a New Light
The story of Elvis Presley is the story of America in the last half of the 20th century, so explosively improbable that we can still barely make sense of it a quarter of the way through the 21st. You can assign Elvis either blame or credit for opening the ears of white listeners to Black American music, but there's no question that he busted the doors wide open. As Americans, we are who we are because of that—mixed up, messed up, occasionally at one another's throats—but essentially in search of accord through the salvation of a chord. The story of Elvis' rise and fall hasn't faded from the public imagination, proving irresistible to filmmakers like Sofia Coppola and Baz Luhrmann. If anything, in an era when algorithms seek to determine our taste—and, increasingly, AI seeks to feed that taste—both Elvis' gifts and his downfall remind us that human fallibility, with all the suffering and joy it enwraps, is the only place from which true greatness can emerge. Yet history also tells us that Elvis had help. Not even Elvis would have been Elvis without Colonel Tom Parker, a Dutch-born mover-and-shaker who felt lightning strike when he first saw this outrageously charismatic—but green—kid onstage in 1955. Legend, fostered at least partly by the idea that cynicism is cooler than earnest enthusiasm, has led us to believe that when Parker looked at Elvis, he saw only dollar signs. But there's more to both men than that, and there's probably only one person alive who could tease out the complicated truth: with The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World, veteran pop-music scholar Peter Guralnick, Elvis' most ardent and compassionate biographer, makes the case that Parker was hardly the monster he's commonly been made out to be. Sure, Parker loved making money, probably even more than he loved actual money. But he also loved Elvis, with a mixed-up love that was opportunistic and tender in equal measure. Their ambitions meshed; both were almost mystically persuasive, and stubborn too. They rose together and, though Colonel outlived the man he always called 'my boy' by 20 years, they fell apart together. Guralnick's view of Parker is both clear-eyed and sympathetic, but best of all, it's persuasive. You come away thinking differently about a person you thought you'd already nailed down. And isn't that what a biographer is for? Guralnick met and began a shaky almost-friendship with Parker in 1988. He was just embarking on his magnificent and definitive two-volume Elvis biography, Last Train to Memphis (1994) and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (1998), and the two men corresponded sporadically until 1996. (Parker died in 1997). After the publication of Last Train to Memphis, Guralnick was invited by Jack Soden, the CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises, to examine the portion of the Elvis Presley archives containing every aspect of Parker's business dealings, Elvis-related and otherwise, from gas receipts to court documents to contracts. Guralnick also gained access to Parker's letters, a trove of playful, enthusiastic, forceful, fancifully punctuated missives that trace the contours of Parker's rise, in tandem with that of Elvis. The first section of Guralnick's book tells the story of Parker's life, with a healthy dose of skepticism about all the things Parker may—or may not have—made up. The second section contains the letters, with notes from Guralnick appended. You might call the book's second half repetitive—it repeats some of the lore covered in the first. But it's probably more accurate to call it a reinforcement. Seeing Parker's way of doing business, spelled out in his own words, bolsters everything Guralnick has already told us about him. It's all part of the book's power, which dispels some myths and revels in the glory of others. That's the only way to honor the spirit of the brilliant, elusive Parker. If you've seen Luhrmann's passionate and hugely entertaining 2022 movie Elvis, you may feel you know part of Parker's story, but not necessarily the truth of it. The first section of Guralnick's book begins by explaining, in detail, how Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, born in Breda, Holland, in 1909, reinvented himself as Colonel Tom Parker—not really a colonel, but a mythmaker extraordinaire. Young Andreas didn't fit in at school. His father, a livery man, didn't understand him, and apparently abused him. Andreas found ways to escape, at first just emotionally. As a kid, he loved the circus so much he put together one of his own, where he performed acrobatics and enlisted a small collection of sparrows and trained beetles, as well as a rabbit, as additional attractions. When he tried to make his father's workhorses part of the act, his father beat him. Yet Andreas seemed to possess the gift of charming himself out of bad situations, earning people's trust and friendship nearly everywhere he went. In the spring of 1926, he came to America as a stowaway, only to be caught out and returned. He stowed away a second time, successfully, a few months later, on a ship bound for Hoboken. Barely 17 years old, he not only began a new American life, but launched a full-scale self-reinvention. Parker enlisted in the U.S. military in 1929, acknowledging his Dutch birth, and was stationed in Hawaii, a place he would come to love. But the orderly life of the army wasn't for him. He peeled off and became a carnival manager, learning the business from the bottom up, eventually segueing into artist management. He shepherded the early careers of country crooner Eddy Arnold and Canadian-born singer-songwriter Hank Snow. But when he saw a hotshot newcomer perform at the Louisiana Hayride in 1955, he was a goner. Guralnick writes, plainly, 'It was astounding the speed with which it happened.' If Parker had already begun distancing himself from his Dutch past, in a flash he'd practically erased it. He shuffled off his other commitments. The young Elvis Presley became his past, present, and future. From here, Guralnick builds a convincing case that as shrewd a dealmaker as Parker was, he never acted in a way that failed to serve his client's best interest. The deals he made were mutually beneficial for sure; the more Elvis made, the more he made. But Parker assiduously avoided getting involved in Elvis' artistic or personal choices. He intervened only when he saw his client engage in self-destructive behavior: after Elvis made a crude joke onstage at an early show, Parker took him aside to admonish him, and Elvis, a good boy at heart, listened. In later years, he tried to intercede through Presley's father, Vernon, to stem Elvis' outrageous overspending, knowing his client couldn't make back the money he was pouring out—or paying out, especially to the numerous hangers-on who'd begun to attach themselves like barnacles. Did Colonel—though the article 'the' is often appended to his title, Parker had adopted 'Colonel' alone as his official name—push Elvis so hard, particularly in signing him up for a series of demanding but lucrative Las Vegas shows, that he drove his client, friend, and surrogate son further into self-destructive drug use? It's debatable how much of that Parker could control. Regardless, Guralnick makes the case that Elvis' decline caused Parker an almost unbearable amount of pain. In writing this book, Guralnick earned the trust of Parker's second wife and widow, Loanne, who fills in some heartrending details. After a disastrous show in Hartford, Conn., in 1976, Parker had tried and failed to talk to Elvis backstage; the star had been 'too groggy to respond,' he told Loanne immediately afterward. 'What can I do?' he said to her. 'The real Elvis…is sharp and clever, but the person I saw tonight didn't even recognize me. No one knows how much I miss the real Elvis. If only I knew how to bring him back. I miss my friend so much.' Guralnick continues recounting what Loanne told him: 'And then he started crying—he seemed unable to control himself, as the tears came pouring down.' That wasn't Colonel's everyday style. He was evasive, charming, eccentric, and wily. He was also tireless. When he bought Elvis out from the man who'd discovered him, Sun Record Company's Sam Phillips, he drove a diamond-hard bargain. But if he hadn't done it, the Elvis we know—the only Elvis we can imagine—wouldn't have existed. And what kind of world would that be? Parker had his own demons: he was a compulsive gambler, which endangered his few close personal relationships. And though members of his family in Holland tried to reconnect with him over the years, he rebuffed their every effort—those people belonged to an old identity he'd long ago shed. But mostly, he was fiercely loyal to his friends and colleagues. Though he began his relationship with Loanne before his first wife, Marie, had died, he made sure Marie was well-taken care of through her long periods of illness. Beneath his flair for flimflammery there was a core of integrity, even if, like all human beings, he wavered here and there. Parker was a master of the snow job; he knew it and was proud of it. He even formed a club of honorary 'snowmen,' people who knew how to bamboozle and charm, but who also knew how to stop short of outright deception. Reading The Colonel and The King, you will of course wonder, as I did, if Guralnick himself was snowed by Parker. Of course! At least a little. But that's the price you pay when you love your subject, not blindly, but in a way that seeks the truth of a person. What other way is there? Guralnick shows us that loving Elvis also means loving Parker, no matter how grudgingly. They walked together, as far as they could. It means something that we're still hearing the footsteps.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Adrian Dunbar shares Line of Duty series 7 update
The star of the BBC drama told This Morning he called his agent to find out "more news". What did you miss? News just in from Adrian Dunbar - the Line of Duty star has revealed he got an update on series seven as recently as this morning (7 August), but it contradicts his recent comments about the show's future. Appearing on This Morning on Thursday, 7 August, Dunbar was in the studio to talk about ITV detective show Ridley. But it wasn't long before hosts Joel Dommett and Emma Willis gave in to temptation and asked him about BBC hit Line of Duty. Since the series six finale in 2021, fans have been obsessing over whether there will be another instalment, with varying responses from key cast members Dunbar, Vicky McClure and Martin Compston. But despite his recent confirmation that series seven was on the way, Dunbar told Dommett and Willis he had called his agent about the show just hours earlier and had been told "there isn't any more real definite news". What, how and why? Dunbar might have been a guest on ITV's This Morning to talk about the broadcaster's own cop show starring him, Ridley, but even the hosts couldn't resist steering the conversation towards his BBC police procedural hit Line of Duty. He plays Ted Hastings alongside McClure as Kate Fleming and Compston as Steve Arnott in the hugely successful drama from Jed Mercurio about police corruption investigators AC-12 and fans are desperate for news of whether there will ever be a seventh series. Willis asked him of his co-stars over the years: "Do you have favourites?" and Dunbar delighted Line of Duty fans everywhere by replying: "Vicky and Martin, obviously." It nicely teed up a question about the show's future and Dunbar said: "When it happens, yes, absolutely we'll be excited to go back." But he continued: "We actually don't know if it's going to happen. I actually called my agent this morning to see was there any more news, but there isn't any more real definite news about it sadly, so we're just going to have to wait. "Everybody wants to know that it's happening, and so do we." Read more: The best Line of Duty series 7 theories, from H rumour to red herring Anna Maxwell Martin reveals Line Of Duty secret Adrian Dunbar wants Line of Duty return before he needs a Zimmer frame Reflecting on the show's runaway success, he said: "It was extraordinary. First series was great, second series just took off with Keeley (Hawes) and Craig Parkinson and it just started to build from there. "Because of the twists and turns, I think nobody wanted to come into work on Monday and not know what had happened in Line of Duty over the weekend. You had to know, so that just built and then it became a thing. We didn't really realise that it would get to these sort of heights, but it's great that it has." What has Adrian Dunbar said about Line of Duty 7 before? The actor's most recent comments will be a disappointment to fans after implying in an interview just a week earlier that the show's return was imminent. Dunbar had told The Times: "We're really excited about getting our hands on a Line of Duty script, to see what happens to us. Jed is writing. We've talked to the BBC. It is down to the BBC to make an announcement, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that next year we'll be working on a new series. No doubt Jed will think of some interesting twists and turns." He had also acknowledged viewers' issues with the big series six reveal that bungling cop Ian Buckells was crime lord H, a question that had plagued the drama since series one and which many thought was an anticlimactic result. Dunbar said: "When you find out it is this idiot, Buckells, it is so frustrating. There is a scene where the three of us are told who it is, and we look at each other and go, 'What?' We asked Jed to write that scene because we realised how our audience would feel. "But Jed's point was that police corruption can hang on one cop deciding to ignore one piece of information that comes across his desk." This Morning airs on ITV1 at 10am on weekdays.
Elle
2 hours ago
- Elle
Meghan Markle Just Reminded Us Why a Messy Bun Is the Ultimate Classic Hairstyle
Tousled, chic, and effortlessly romantic, the latest hairstyle from Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is the ultimate summer updo. Revealed on Instagram to mark the American-born royal's 44th birthday, the softly textured bun proves there's an easy way to wear a wide-brim sun hat all season long. A sharp pivot from her usual voluminous blow-dry, the undone look embraces a more natural beauty vibe—yet still delivers plenty of regal inspiration. The style rests in a loose, airy bun at the nape of the neck, with softly curled tendrils framing her face. This design lets a summery hat sit comfortably while the rest of Markle's hair maintains its effortlessly elegant drape underneath. 'This style is easiest when your hair isn't freshly washed, so it's perfect two or three days after shampooing,' hair forecaster and stylist Tom Smith says. 'Alternatively, prep the hair with a styling powder or texturizing spray for the volume, texture, and grip this relaxed yet secure look needs.' He continues, 'Movement and texture—whether from your natural wave or curl pattern or created with heat—are essential foundations for the style. Flip your head upside down and shake out your hair before securing a low ponytail to achieve the undone vibe. Gently twist the ponytail's ends upward, pin them in place with bobby pins, and finish with a strong-hold hairspray to keep everything secure.' For the look, the Duchess of Sussex wore her signature brunette: a rich, glossy, dimensional chocolate hue she has maintained effortlessly for years. If you're considering a lighter shade for the final weeks of sunshine, take inspiration from Kate Middleton's fresh honey bronde—one of early summer's most coveted colors. Much like Markle, the Princess of Wales is a master of subtle transformations.
