MARTIN COMPSTON has been flying high since bagging his best-known role in Line Of Duty – and now he is adding another huge drama to his packed schedule.
I can reveal that he will be the big signing on the second series of ITV thriller Red Eye, which debuted last year with Richard Armitage as the leading character.
While that show was set on a commercial jet, I understand the second season will be on a private plane.
And Martin’s character won’t be quite the hero we knew him as when he played Line of Duty’s Detective Inspector Steve Arnott.
A TV insider said: “This is a bit of a departure for Martin, who’s usually seen playing the nice guys, even if they are often heroic figures with flaws.
“But it seems his character is an out-and-out baddie, which he’ll relish getting the chance to play just to be able to mix things up a bit.”
Telling of his joy at landing the part, Martin said: “I’m delighted to be joining the Red Eye team.
“Hoping to build on the massive success of the first series and give viewers another thrilling ride.”
Richard played central character Dr Matthew Nolan in series one, which had 29.3million streams on ITVX.
The first episode alone had 8million viewers.
The British medic suddenly found himself being flown back to China to face criminal charges, with Detective Hana Li responsible for escorting him.
But, predictably, they encountered quite a bit of turbulence en route.
Jing Lusi will reprise her series one role as Hana, alongside Lesley Sharp as head of MI5, Madeline Delaney, and Jemma Moore as journalist Jess Li.
It’s a miracle Martin has time to make the new ITV show, which is filmed by production company, Bad Wolf.
He’s just finished the second series of The Rig for Prime Video.
The same streamer will screen his new three-parter, Fear, from March 4.
Later this year, Martin will also be heading back to Las Vegas, where he lives with his US wife and son, to make another of his travelogues for the BBC — but first he’ll be getting on board that private jet to film Red Eye this spring.
He’s clearly not afraid of hard work.
I really hope he’s not afraid of flying, either . . .
Spycop doc disguises
ITV has disguised spycop victims so dramatically for its new show, their own families cannot recognise them.
Producers used wigs, make-up and false teeth to conceal the identities of several women in the Undercover Police Scandal series, out next month on ITV1 and ITVX.
One woman, called “Alison”, said: “My mum couldn’t see it was me.”
More than 60 women were tricked into having relationships with a unit of spycops over a 40-year period, and the documentary explores the extreme measures used by police to infiltrate activist groups.
Some officers even fathered children with the women.
‘Alison’, who unwittingly had a relationship with a spycop in her 20s, said: “Having these disguises means that we can talk about the story.”
