Line Of Duty’s Martin Compston reveals attention of BBC series ‘doesn’t sit naturally with me’

Line Of Duty’s Martin Compston has revealed that the attention of the BBC drama doesn’t ‘sit naturally’ with him.

The DS Steve Arnott star, who initially had doubts about Jed Mercurio’s acclaimed series, which is currently airing its sixth chapter, opened up to Dermot O’Leary on his radio show about being catapulted into the spotlight.

‘We had a Zoom catch-up last night – Me, [co-stars] Vick [McClure], Adrian [Dunbar] and [writer] Jed [Mercurio] – we chat once a week while [the show’s] it’s on because we each know what the other one is going through and we can have a proper moan,’ Martin said. 

‘The support we have is amazing, but you know, the show’s just become this mammoth machine. That amount of attention isn’t something that kind of sits naturally with me.’

Martin continued: ‘I’m very appreciative of it, but we’re under that point now where everything we’ve said in the past and everything just gets scrutinised.

‘It’s good to just get the first one out and then it becomes more about the show because that’s what people have got to talk about rather than us.’

Martin also held his hands up and said he believed the drama was ‘too subtle’ and that he wasn’t sure whether it would take off.

‘The scripts from the off have always been brilliant, and I thought the cast as well [were great],’ he told Dermot.

‘But I thought maybe it was too subtle. I thought, in terms of it being a hit – like I knew it was going to be good but I didn’t know the audiences would take to it.’

Martin went on to say: ‘And obviously, we started mid-week on BBC Two so to think of where it is now it’s crazy.’

Line Of Duty is currently airing its sixth series, with the second episode introducing Jimmy Savile as part of the investigation into Gail Vella’s death.

As the new BBC crime drama continued, things took a turn when it mentioned a connection to the real-life paedophile ring led by Savile.

Gail Vella (played by Andi Osho), an investigative journalist, was shot dead outside her house on September 10, 2019, with the AC-12 team now trying to catch the culprit.

In the latest episode, Steve and Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) watched unaired footage of the journalist covering the child sex abuse court case of Chief Superintendent Patrick Fairbank – during which she suggested senior police officers could be connected to Savile’s wrongdoings.

Line Of Duty airs Sundays at 9pm on BBC One.

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