Nipping to Norway
Join actor Martin Compston and his pal Phil Machugh on a Norwegian adventure…
MARTIN COMPSTON’S NORWEGIAN FLING Friday, 9pm (not Wales), BBC2 Factual (box set, BBC iplayer)
Line of Duty actor Martin Compston and his presenter pal Phil Machugh had so much fun exploring their homeland in Martin Compston’s Scottish Fling in 2022 that the friends are off on their travels again. But this time they’re going slightly further afield – across the North Sea to Norway!
‘Norway is one of the closest neighbours to Scotland, and yet we knew little about it,’ says Phil.
‘So when it came on the agenda we jumped at the chance, because we knew it would be in some ways similar to Scotland, but ultimately a brand-new culture and full of adventure!’
The pair begin their journey in the capital city of Oslo, where they meet the country’s youngest MP, Maren Grøthe, tackle a dizzyingly high zip line, and go head-to-head in an all-weather adaptation of a winter sport as they learn how to roller-ski… ‘I’m quite sporty in my normal life, so I loved things like the zip line,’ says Martin. ‘But old Phil beat me on the skiing – I was out of my comfort zone there!’
Educational adventure
Across their six-episode adventure, Martin and Phil are keen to find out how Norway and Scotland compare, and what lessons they can learn from their Nordic neighbours.
‘We just knocked them out of the Euros, so we had that on them – we beat them at the football!’ grins Martin. ‘But in seriousness, there are loads of things we can learn from them, like in terms of green energy, but I’m sure there’s stuff they could learn from us, too!’