Martin Compston has revealed his latest Glasgow drama, about a couple accused of child abuse, has left him afraid that modern technology in our homes is spying on us.
The Line of Duty actor, 40, stars in the psychological drama Fear which is coming to Amazon Prime on March 4.
He stars as architect Martyn alongside Vigil’s Anjli Mohindra as his wife Rebecca, who have moved from London to Glasgow’s affluent West End to live in a stunning townhouse.
Soon things unravel as the pair fall under suspicion.
Compston said: “It’s this young family who, for all intents and purposes, seem like a proper little team. They’ve made this – instigated by Martyn, by his career – this big jump back to Glasgow from London, and they’ve bought this incredible house, which is pretty much a character on its own.
“And I know that area of Glasgow, even for me growing up, was quite a famed area where you had all the footballers and lawyers and all that kind of thing, so it’s a beautiful part of town. They’ve maybe mortgaged themselves up to the hilt and gave everything they’ve had to buy this dream home.
“They get there, and it starts well. They have a neighbour – played by the wonderful Solly McLeod – and things take a bit of a turn.”
The apparently friendly and solitary neighbour, Jan, living in their basement becomes an intimidating presence and the pair soon come to believe their smart tech is being used against them.
“It’d be your worst nightmare as a parent, this stuff,” he said.
“In this day and age as well, any sort of thing that gets thrown at you seems to stick without any kind of evidence. Once you’re tarred, and especially with what they’re accused of, it’d be a terrifying thought to just have people think that of you, but then there’s a very real threat of having your kids taken away from you.
“And it is probably a question of how far would you go to protect your kids?”
He added: “It feels like anybody can say anything now and it be untrue but it will stick. 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 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 said. “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 also revealed working in Glasgow’s West End on the production made him fall in love with the area, except for the occasional encounter with a Rangers player.
“It’s an amazing part of town,” he said. “You’ve got a lot of Celtic players living around that area, so I was getting quite giddy at times, seeing some of them around – and the odd Rangers player, unfortunately.
“It’s a well-known part of town and a lovely part of town. The houses are quite spectacular, just wonderful craftsmanship, which thankfully survived inside the place. Really opulent. I mean, it’d be a b****** to heat, that’s for sure.
“It’s always such a treat when you get to film on location, because you get to fall in love with, but also have a relationship with, the building that you’re in.
“It’s wonderful that we got that one, because I think most of them now, because there’s so many floors you kind of think when the house ends there’s another floor and another floor, or another secret compartment or another secret room.
“The one we had is still intact where most of them now are kind of sold into flats on each floor. In terms of Martyn being an architect in the story, you would just wake up feeling like you were in a dream every day.”
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 said. “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.