20-02-2025
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.
