He’s hardly ever off our screens, it seems, so it’s little wonder Martin Compston is enjoying a break while doing the role he loves best... Dad.
The Line of Duty star – back on TV tomorrow in a blackmail drama – is chilling at home in Las Vegas, enjoying the relative anonymity of life in the US.
He tells the Sunday Mirror: “I am at that age now where I am happy to bring it down a couple of notches.
“Most would describe me as a sociable guy, and I still will be, but after the madness of the last year with back-to-back filming, it’s been time to calm things down.”
Proud Scotsman Martin lives in the US with American actress wife Tianna Chanel Flynn, 33, and their toddler son.
With a heartwarming picture from his wedding day in the background, he says on our Zoom chat: “I’ve been doing the ‘Daddy Day Care’ stuff while my wife’s been working away.
“My wife has her own career too, so she’s away, but it’s just a balance.
“And I’m really lucky to have so much family and support. I know how fortunate I am for that.”
But the bright lights of the Vegas Strip beckon every so often. Last October he was snapped with fellow Celtic fan Rod Stewart after the singer’s gig at Caesars Palace.
“I have a friend who knows Rod but I’ve got a very quiet life,” Martin insists. “The Strip is near and I have one mad night every couple of weeks, or month, but here my life is quiet compared to back home.”
He says he’s immensely proud of becoming a dad three years ago, but draws a line at giving too much detail.
“I go to work now for a break,” he jokes. “I’ll never complain about early mornings again.”
For Martin, 37, Vegas is the antidote to life in front of the camera – although he also has a place back home in Greenock, Renfrewshire.
He says: “It sounds like a dickish thing to say, because if you ask my wife, Greenock will always be my home, while Vegas was a conscious choice so my wife could be close to family. But I only realised in the last few months just how much I need this place.
“It’s just because you can come here and when anyone does notice you, it’s a novelty. I can take my little one to the park and not be followed around.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are some great things that come with being on the telly, some amazing things, and I do make the most of that at times, but I have realised that having the anonymity has been great.”
Then he jokes: “I’ll probably be getting withdrawals from people asking me for selfies soon though!”
Martin became one of Britain’s best-loved and most recognised stars as DS Steve Arnott in corrupt cops show Line of Duty.
He’s the good guy, naturally.
A string of prime-time dramas have followed, including submarine thriller Vigil, The Rig and, recently, forensics drama Traces, on the Alibi channel.
But his latest role, as a wayward husband in Our House, was one of the most emotionally challenging. He plays Bram Lawson, who splits from his wife Fi (played by Downton Abbey’s Tuppence Middleton) after cheating with a neighbour.
The first episode ends on a cliffhanger as Fi returns home to discover a couple have moved in – claiming Bram had sold the house to them.
Martin says: “Our House by far, acting-wise, took the most out of me.
“It was unique to see a drama based around family and marriage that was exciting on those terms. There were a couple of proper cliffhangers there.
“I came straight from filming The Rig. I’d read the scripts and loved them – you realise this guy’s life is falling apart. It was a tough role. He’s a guy with a self-destruct button but he also has some redeeming features.
“In essence he is a good guy, loves his kids. But I don’t think he appreciates what he’s got until it’s too late. He seems like somebody who wants to inject a bit of chaos into his life as soon as things are going too well.
“It was such an emotional ride, just when you see what Bram goes through. That made it so intense.
“When we finished I said I needed a bit of a break, so we wrapped in October and just went away and were a family for a while. I’m under no illusions how lucky I am to have been able to do that, but it was what I needed.”
It is 20 years since his breakthrough role playing troubled teen Liam in the Ken Loach film Sweet Sixteen – and he’ll be forever grateful for the part.
He says: “I feel massively nostalgic. I owe those guys absolutely everything for taking a chance on me and giving me that opportunity.
“It was a weight around my neck at the time. Everyone thought I was that kid. Doing Monarch of the Glen was a very conscious choice because it was so different to Sweet Sixteen.
“Now I’ve grown older, where things go well, like Line of Duty, I’m just really proud. When you see the sort of numbers [viewing figures] involved in that kind of stuff it can’t not make you proud. I am so grateful for it. I’ve been very lucky over last 20 years to dip my toe into the independent cinema and TV world and it’s gratifying when you do stuff that goes to a big audience.
“Especially in these times, it’s great to give people a bit of escapism to take their mind off what seems like a never-ending miserable news cycle.”
Right now he’s working on a top-secret project that he’s producing.
He won’t be drawn on the subject.
But then they do say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...
- Martin’s new drama Our House is on ITV at 9pm tomorrow
