'A good feeling': Martin Compston happy to see new series premiere in Scotland

SCOTS star Martin Compston was joined by members of his family on the red carpet on Thursday for the premiere of his new thriller series.

The 40-year-old portrays main character Martyn in Fear, which debuted during the Glasgow Film Festival at the Glasgow Film Theatre.

The three-part Prime Video show, based on a book of the same name by Dirk Kurbjuweit, was shot in the city’s west end and features a family who have recently moved back to Scotland, having lived in London for a time.

Compston said: “It used to be you’d do these shows and have the premiere down south, but that is changing a bit, you know, and Scotland has just grown and grown.

“So to have the show filmed in the west end, and having the premiere in the town is great – it’s a good feeling.”

While he was unable to disclose too much about the show’s plot, he said: “It’s about a family who come back up to Scotland from London. My character, Martyn, is an architect and he brings his young family to the city.

“They’ve sort of sold everything they had to buy a spectacular house in Glasgow, and they come up here to try and live the dream, they’ve got this beautiful place and they’re starting fresh, close to Martyn’s family.

“And they’ve got a neighbour downstairs who’s not all there, and that just sort of spirals from there.”

Martin Compston arrives at the Glasgow Film Theatre for Thursday's premiere of Fear. (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire) He added: “It’s a thriller, but I think it stands on its own.

“It’s still quite scary, with the sort of ‘creepy neighbour’ and all that kind of thing, but it really pushes the boat out on sort of different aspects of it.

“Dare I say, it’s a bit cleverer than your average thriller.”

Martin Compston stars as Martyn in 'Fear' on Prime Video. (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire) He described the characters in the show as being complex, nuanced, and often in morally “grey areas”, with the morality of their motives and actions left to the audience to decide.

He said: “He’s fun to play because he’s quite selfish, and so it’s finding all those different shades in him.

"Being the lead character, you’ve got to take the audience with you, but also, when he’s doing things that make you dislike him.

Martin Compston with members of his family at Thursday's premiere of Fear at the Glasgow Film Theatre. (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

“So it’s about trying to keep people on side and alienate them at the same time.

“Where the show is great is in these grey areas, because a lot of it is: how far would you go to protect your family?

“And that’s what’s great. It leaves it up to the audience from their point of view, to decide what they would do.

"I think the performances across the board are fantastic.”