A quickie with... Martin Compston

Season openers are notorious for their huge twists – what was your reaction to this one?

With the scripts, you always get to the point where you think, “How is Jed going to do it again?” And then you get to it and you’re like, “You bastard!” [Laughs.] He always lures you into this false sense of security, where you think you’ve seen it all before, and then it completely flips. And it’s an explosive start this time.

Do you, Vicky and Adrian all get on the phone to each other as soon as you read the scripts?

Definitely. Usually, I’m chomping at the bit to read them, but I was filming In Plain Sight when they came through this time. Once you start reading, they’re so good that they just become your focus, so I had to leave them until I got that job done. But Vicky was finding it very hard not to reveal stuff. We were both filming in Glasgow at the time, and she was meeting me at night, saying, “Go on, just read them!”

What can you tell us about Thandie’s character?

Jed writes really strong female characters, and Roz is one tough cookie. She’s really smart, and all our AC-12 characters flip at different points about what we think she has and hasn’t done. And Thandie’s great – she’s half-mary Poppins, half -terrifying. She’s a real sweetie, but you wouldn’t mess with her.

People really don’t want spoilers for this show – is it hard keeping it all secret between filming and airing?

Yes! One of my friends actually fell out with me because he asked me how filming was going and I accidentally told him a plotline. He was like, “You’ve just ruined it for me now!” People definitely get into the spirit of it. They enjoy being left in suspense week after week.

Do you enjoy doing the lengthy interrogation scenes?

Yes – and I’ve noticed other shows are stealing our style a wee bit now [Laughs.] It shows you can have pure drama just with people sitting round a table. Although, series

three did end up with Vicky hanging off a truck with a machine gun…

Will things look up romantically for Steve?

Well, I think Jed takes too much pleasure in tormenting me for Steve to be happy. And Steve’s such an arrogant little prick. He’s the good guy, but he’s lucky he hasn’t been sacked.