Latest news with #TheRig
Scottish Sun
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Line of Duty's Martin Compston breaks silence on hit BBC drama's return – insisting it will ‘be for the right reasons'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) LINE of Duty's Martin Compston has broken his silence on the hit BBC drama's return - saying it will be 'for the right reasons'. The Sun exclusively revealed Line of Duty would be returning next year for a seventh series. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 4 Line of Duty's Martin Compston has broken his silence on the hit drama returning Credit: AP 4 The show aired from 2012 up until 2021 Credit: BBC 4 Viewers best know Martin for playing DS Steve Arnott Credit: BBC The six-parter will reportedly see Martin, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar all reprise their beloved roles for filming in January. When speaking to The Sun's TV Mag, the actor was grilled about rumours of the show making a comeback. Martin shared: 'We're always talking about possibilities and schedules and whatnot. "Everybody's got stuff going on at the minute, so I think anything, unfortunately, would be a way off. "You know, the day people stop asking about the show will be a sad day, so I'm delighted that people are still excited about it. "We'd all love to work together again at some point. We still all meet up. "I met with Jed [Mercurio, the show's creator], Adrian [Dunbar] and Vicky [McClure] in London before Christmas - we went out for dinner, to hear what everyone's up to." He added: 'It's amazing. It's the best feeling as an actor when you feel like the whole country's in the palm of your hand with what's coming next, and there's only a couple of you in that secret of who's surviving and what's going on. "But because we're all so close and we all want the best for the show, we wouldn't do it again just for the sake of it. "If it was just about doing it for the sake of it, we'd have probably done another three series by now. Line of Duty stars spark new episode rumours as they reunite for night out "We really care about the quality of it. So if we come back, it would be for the right reasons. "It won't just be: 'Get another one done.' It'll be because Jed thinks there's a story to tell." A TV insider previously told The Sun: 'This is the news Line of Duty fans have been waiting for since the sixth season left them deflated when it aired back in 2021. 'The BBC almost immediately requested more episodes to continue the story, but the success of the show meant Vicky, Martin and Adrian were instantly snapped up for other projects. 'But after several meetings with Jed [Mercurio, creator and writer] and the production team, they've finally managed to clear space in their calendars next year to commit to making the show.' The Sun first revealed in 2022 that the show, which drew up to 13million viewers, would return. The stars have been attached to other projects - Martin with supernatural thriller The Rig, Vicky with bomb squad drama Trigger Point, and Adrian with jazz singer detective show Ridley. Many of the 13million who saw the sixth series felt it a huge anti-climax to learn buffoon Det Supt Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle) was H, the elusive mastermind with links to organised crime. Fans had wondered if it was a genuine end after nine years of nail-biting storylines, or a red herring by creator Jed Mercurio. TV Mag is available for free every Saturday, only in The Sun.
The Herald Scotland
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Netflix and Amazon now making better Scottish drama than BBC or STV
Increasingly the answer is: yes they can. Netflix scored the year's biggest hit with Adolescence, notionally set in a fictional northern English town but tethered pretty firmly to South Yorkshire through its script (Doncaster was mentioned) and its filming locations (exteriors in Sheffield, interiors at Production Park studio near Pontefract). Then there was Martin Compston's well-received outing for Amazon, the three-part psychological thriller, Fear. It was set in Glasgow and saw Compston using his own accent, as he did in another Scottish-set Amazon show, The Rig. It's currently on its second series and, while season three hasn't been officially announced, the noises from cast members such as Compston's co-star Iain Glen are positive. 'It does feel that we haven't completed that journey,' Mr Glen told the Radio Times. 'It does feel that we've done the middle chapter. There is more to tell.' The next Scottish-set offering from the streamers – it is starting to feel a little like a conveyor belt – is nine parter Dept. Q, which premieres on Netflix on May 29. It's based on an acclaimed series of cold case crime novels by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, but in the hands of Oscar nominated American writer and show-runner Scott Frank it has been removed from Copenhagen to a city with the same latitude but (slightly) cheaper beer – Edinburgh. Emily Hampshire and Iain Glen in The Rig (Image: free) Does that nullify the cultural specificity argument? The proof will be in the watching, but not necessarily. For a start, filming took place at various locations in Edinburgh, as shown by the first set of images released recently by Netflix. Second, one of Frank's co-writers is local(-ish) boy Stephen Greenhorn, creator of River City and Sunshine On Leith. Third, the casting is a Caledonian treat. English actor Matthew Goode stars, but he's joined in the credits by top Scottish acting talent in the form of Kelly Macdonald, Shirley Henderson, Kate Dickie, Mark Bonnar, Jamie Sives and Chloe Pirrie. Goode, who is thankfully not being asked to wrestle with the Edinburgh accent, plays a cantankerous and little liked English detective assigned to the cold case department by his boss (Dickie). He assembles as team of misfits and oddballs and, well, you can probably imagine the rest. Or you may even have seen some of the several Swedish film versions of the novel series. Well, nobody claimed it was original. No matter. Good or bad, acclaimed or otherwise, what it does do is once more underline that fact that where representations of Scotland and Scottish life are concerned, our home-based broadcasters are no longer the only game in town – which brings other, tricker questions than the one I opened with. Read more Club ties I thought the kailyard battles of old were well behind us – by which I mean I thought we had buried a sentimentalised notion of what Scottish culture is, stopped peddling it to the outside world (except in the tartan tat tourist shops) and convinced ourselves and everybody else that we have artists, DJs, musicians, writers, producers and film-makers as cutting edge as any you'll find in (insert super-cool city or country here). However a line in Marissa MacWhirter's interview for The Herald with Sub Club managing director Mike Grieve makes me stop and think. The Scottish Government, he says, only sees and promotes what he calls 'the kilts and shortbread culture. They don't actually see what we do as being cultural in the right way … They certainly don't support it financially.' Are there right and wrong ways of being cultural? Again, that's an argument we have been having for a long time. Mr Grieve's particular complaint centres on the poor health of what's known as the night-time economy. In particular he bemoans the loss of Scotland's nightclubs – down from 125 to 83 between June 2020 and June 2024. The Sub Club, one of the most storied house and techno venues in Europe, is well enough protected, but the wider ecosystem is clearly in danger, with definite cultural consequences. Ahead of the planned publication of a manifesto for Scotland's night-time economy, Mr Grieve's words are worth a read – doubly so if you know your dubstep from you future funk. And remember this: one decade's club flyers is another decade's museum exhibition. Click here to read the piece And finally Reboots, re-imaginings and reunions dominate this week's cargo of reviews from The Herald's critics. Theatre critic Neil Cooper was at the Lochgelly Centre in Fife for Frankie Stein, Julia Taudevin's musical update of Mary Shelley's evergreen horror novel for the Stellar Quines company. 'Big, bright and bold' is his verdict. Neil also took in a re-imagining by Nikki Kalkman of the Greek myth of Jocasta, Queen of Thebes and mother of Oedipus. That one, part of Òran Mór's A Play, A Pie And A Pint season, was directed by Kate Nelson and starred Zoë Hunter in 'a mighty solo turn' as Jocasta. Then, at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre, something completely different: Calamity Jane, in a touring production of Nikolai Foster's 2014 reboot (the boot here being of the cowboy variety, of course). As for the re-union, that was on show at the Glasgow Hydro where Teddy Jamieson had his highly polished dancing shoes on for the first ever arena tour by Noughties pop legends Sugababes, now reformed. Did they play Overload? Hell, they opened with it. Freak Like Me? You betcha. Read our reviews here
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Prime Video U.K. Director Chris Bird Stepping Down After 14 Years
Chris Bird, the director of Prime Video UK, has decided to step down from the role and leave the company after more than 14 years. The news was announced in an internal memo sent to staff by Brigette Ricou-Bellan, the general manager of Prime Video EU, who noted that Bird had been with Amazon since joining as part of its acquisition of early streaming service LoveFilm in 2010 before taking over leadership of the U.K. team in 2021. More from Variety 'Anora' Won Best Picture: Here's How to Watch the Dark Romantic Comedy Online Tank Davis vs. Lamont Roach Pay-Per-View: How to Watch the Premier Boxing Champions Live Online 'The Brutalist' Releases on Digital: Here's How to Watch the Oscar-Nominated Film Online 'In that time, Chris has helped to grow Prime Video UK into one of the most influential streaming services in the U.K., overseeing major milestones such as the recent launch of UEFA Champion's League, the acquisition of Bray Studios as well as appearing in governmental select committees to demonstrate the importance of PV UK to the UK film and TV industry,' she wrote. 'Working with our content and studios partners on launches such as 'The Rig,' 'The Devil's Hour' and of course, 'Clarkson's Farm,' Chris has played a large part in establishing Prime Video as the premier entertainment destination in the U.K.. We're very grateful to Chris for all his contribution to the PV business and to Amazon, and we wish him the very best.' In a message to his colleague, Bird reflected on the seismic changes that had taken place in the industry since he first started. 'When I first joined a crazy small start-up called LoveFilm in 2004 (that was incorporated into Prime Video in 2010), our goal was to use new technology to help customers access film and TV in a deeper, more convenient, better value-for-money manner,' he wrote. 'We cared about having a great selection of programming, innovating on behalf of customers, and delighting them with an ever refreshing offering. We dreamed, one day, to make our own UK TV series. It is incredibly rewarding now to look back and see how we have stood by these principles, built a world-beating business, and served hundreds of millions of customers so well, with so much.' Bird is set to leave Prime Video later this month, with Ricou-Bellan noting that a search for his successor would begin 'shortly.' Best of Variety What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in March 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Martin Compston 'terrified' that 'anybody can say anything' without consequence
Martin Compston's new series Fear taps into the experience of being falsely accused of a crime, and that made it "terrifying" the actor tells Yahoo UK. In the Prime Video series Compston's character Martyn and wife Rebecca's (Anjli Mohindra) their neighbour Jan (Solly McLeod) claims the couple are sexually abusing their children. The actor tells Yahoo UK how scary he finds it that people are able to accuse others so freely without any repercussions, like Jan does to Martyn and Rebecca. "It feels like anybody can say anything now and it be untrue but it will stick," Comston reflects. "And I think that's terrifying. You could be accused of something and then it's splashed everywhere. "Everybody says it and then two months later you get an apology but nobody cares by then, they've moved on, the original accusation stuck, and I hear stuff like that all the time, and I find that element of the show to be quite terrifying." The actor adds: "That does seem prevalent of the the world we live in right now. Anybody can say anything without any kind of responsibility, it doesn't seem to come back on them and that is scary." The show also sees Jan tap into Martyn and Rebecca's WiFi in order to listen in on them and spy on their family through their electronic devices, which is something that was extensively researched by the production team. "That really is possible for somebody who knows what they're doing," Compston says. "It is quite scary. It does feel like we have so much through our phones now, I've still not got my head around it. I've never put my credit card on my phone... it really does rule our life right now and it does feel that situation [in Fear] feels very real." Compston's new series marks a return to working with Prime Video and production company Wild Mercury after shows like The Rig. It's something he was excited about not only working with them again but working in his home country of Scotland. "They're making a big investment in Scotland, long may continue, which I've been really chuffed about," Compston shares. "For that to keep going, having a thriller set in the West End of Glasgow —which is an area of Glasgow I've never really seen on screen before. "We're sort of cornered the market in these kitchen sink dramas and shown urban decay, but there are beautiful areas of Glasgow and the West End particularly. "The scripts by Mick [Ford] were fantastic, really claustrophobic, to cast the assembled, having Anjli is just wonderful. She really makes acting look absolutely effortless, which takes a lot of effort to do." Compston loves that the three-part series is "a proper thriller" that has several "gut punch" episodes that will shock and move viewers: "[Some episodes] feel a lot more emotional rather than on the edge of your seat. I'm chuffed by how it turned out." Martyn was an interesting character for Compston to play because of how much of a challenge it was, the actor says: "He is quite a selfish character, he's chasing his dream of being a big famous architect and he's bought this beautiful house which he's probably mortgaged or something, "Justin [Chadwick, the show's director] said to us... everybody else is there and very successful in their career as well, they've sold everything they've had to get there. He's uprooted his wife away from her family and so he's quite a selfish character but he's doing everything for the right reasons. "Something we touch on within the drama was this generational trauma of his dad's fears and anxieties and emotional problems [which have] been passed down to Martyn, and Martyn determined not to pass it down." Compston adds: "He doesn't listen to advice and that's to his detriment, but that's a lot of fun to play. He just finds himself in these stupid situations which are of his own making usually." "You bring an energy to a role. He's magnetic to be around, he's exciting and that's probably what Rebecca liked about him when he was younger and full of dreams and full of ambition," he says. "That's something even from my first job, I remember Ken Loach saying to me 'energy is something that communicates really well through screen'. "That doesn't mean you have to be having fun all the time, it could be an incredibly sad scene but as long as you're committed to what you're doing the audience will follow." Fear premieres on Prime Video on Tuesday, 4 March.
The Guardian
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Which test includes the memorising of 320 London routes? The Saturday quiz
1 What test includes the memorising of 320 London routes?2 In the 15th century, who wrote The Book of the City of Ladies?3 What east Asian board game is considered the world's oldest that has been continuously played to the present day?4 Who asked President Nixon to make him a 'federal agent at large' in 1970?5 Where is Kourou, the European Space Agency's launch site?6 What are trained by The Seeing Eye?7 Cold War Steve's artwork Benny's Babbies celebrates which city?8 Which media star was the US's first black female billionaire?What links: 9 Leonard Bernstein; John du Pont; Golda Meir; Virginia Woolf?10 60; 798; 1135; 1212; 1666; 1698; 1834; 1940-1?11 Calacatta; Carrara; Connemara; Griotte; Lasa; Statuario?12 Steffi Graf (377) and Novak Djokovic (428)?13 Dallas; Landman; State of Happiness; The Rig; The Troubleshooters?14 Stressed; deliver; reward; lever; edit; dog; on?15 Lisbon; Seoul; Accra; Cairo; Lima; Vienna? 1 Taxi knowledge.2 Christine de Pizan.3 Go.4 Elvis Presley.5 French Guiana (South America).6 Guide dogs.7 Birmingham.8 Oprah Winfrey.9 Portrayed in biopics by actors wearing false noses: Bradley Cooper; Steve Carell; Helen Mirren; Nicole Kidman.10 Major fires in London.11 Types of marble.12 Record number of weeks spent as world number one tennis player.13 TV series set in the oil industry.14 Anadromes (words that spell a different word backwards).15 National capitals of last six UN secretaries general.
