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Where is Martin Compston from and how does he get into his Line of Duty accent?
29 March 2019, 13:07 | Updated: 29 March 2019, 13:13
As Line Of Duty returns to our screens on Sunday, we talk to Compston - who plays Steve Arnott in the hit BBC drama - and reveals the inspiration for his accent.
Line of Duty returns to our screens this Sunday 31 March, and season 5 is set to pick up from where the last series left off- seeing AC12 continue their hunt for Balaclava Man.
Watch the latest teaser trailer from the hit BBC series above.
Martin Compston, who stars as DS Steve Arnott in the hit BBC police drama often shocks fans when they hear him speak outside of the series, because he sounds nothing like his character.
Now, speaking to Radio X, he's revealed just what, and WHO inspired his accent in the series.
Find out how Martin Compston got his accent and where he's really from here...
READ MORE: Everything we know about Line of Duty Series 5 so far...
Where is Martin Compston from?
Martin Compston is from Scotland and was born on 8 May 1984 in Greenock, Inverclyde in the country.
Where did Martin Compston get his accent for DS Steve Arnott in Line of Duty from?
Speaking to Radio X's Gordon Smart and Matt Morgan about his English accent in the series, Compston said: "I'm fiercely Scottish as your good self Gordon, but people in Scotland get a wee bit annoyed with it..."
He added: "I can't play everything as if I'm from Greenock! I'm an actor! [...] You can't just go into every job saying: 'I'm doing my own accent'."
He explained: "The brief came in as a London detective. I came in doing a London accent, which I'm sure another 20 or 30 actors did, and I got the part. So it's never been a thing, but for some reason people get riled up about it."
Compston, who now lives in Las Vegas with his American wife Tiana, also revealed there's a secret to how he gets back into the "wide-boy" accent after living across the pond... and it involves our sometimes presenter Matt Morgan.
"It can get quite tedious learning the accent, because there's all these exercises and stuff, so you've got to find these ways to keep it lively...
"So what I would do is I would listen to Matt's podcast while I was walking the dog and just repeat his voice..."
READ MORE: Martin Compston teases the fate of Steve Arnott in Line of Duty 5
Watch Martin Compston tease his Line of Duty character's fate here:
Find out why Martin Compston thinks Gerry Cinnamon is "one of the biggest singer-songwriters of the decade" in our video:
