Time for The Rig
Amazon’s new thriller series filmed in Edinburgh to stream in January
PORTOBELLO RESIDENT David
Macpherson created the idea for Amazon’s production of The Rig mainly as a result of the stories his dad told him about working in the oil and gas industry.
The writer is from Alness and said: "Even when I was at school the rigs used to tower over the town, when they were brought in to get repaired. That part of it - the oil part - has been with me throughout my life. But it was not until we did our location trip to a rig just off Orkney that I realised there was about 70 feet of legs to climb up just to get to the top deck.”
Filming for the six part series took place at First Stage Studios in Leith. But whether there is any room left for another series of The Rig everyone was tight-lipped. David did admit that he would love to do more however.
Martin Compston plays Fulmer the comms officer in The Rig but previously shone as detective Steve Arnott in the BBC’s Line of Duty. Compston grew up in Greenock and his own father worked in the oil industry. He said:
“I always had this glamorous idea of what Aberdeen was like because for working class people with a trade it was good money. But it is a hard hard life. “I wish people could see the show the way I read it because the Director Jon Strickland - who I have worked with on a few things - he phoned me and told me about the series set on a rig and that there was a part he wanted me to play. He knew that my dad had worked on the rigs and there was an obvious connection. I thought it was going to be these hard-drinking men and some sort of social drama. But by part two I had no idea what was going on - in the best possible way. It takes this life turn that you don’t see coming and to read it like that was wonderful because I knew nothing about it. It is great to be in something in Scotland with this size of ambition. Edinburgh born actor Iain Glen said that the cast had a certain responsibility making this programme here in Scotland. He said: “We are portraying our people and our country and it is a Scottish story. All credit to Amazon as they did not try to dilute it in any shape or form. They stayed very true to to David’s script.”
“I loved being here for three or four months filming every day in Edinburgh and I definitely rediscovered the city and the beauty of it and the character. I tis hard when you have been pulled away from your folks. I have lived in London since I went to drama school so to come back and just be able to pop in and see my mum on a daily basis - well that characterised the job for me more than anything.”
Former Leith Academy boy Mark Bonnar was also pleased to be back home and passing by his old school every day on the way to work in Leith Docks. He said: “It’s wonderful to see the blossoming of Scotland as a kind of hub for this kind of thing, especially when it is a home-grown tale and a home-grown writer and a lot of the cast too. When the script first landed on my lap the quality of the writing was apparent right away but then there was also the genre and what was happening. As I turned the pages ( I am a lifelong fan of things like The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, The Thing, all those movies) and David acknowledged the isolation of the guys on The Rig.
“But also what David did brilliantly is tie it together with a story of our times and what we are doing to our planet and how it is being affected. There is the social story as well which is important.”