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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Entertainment
Jane Corscadden

Line of Duty: Martin Compston on being 'mistaken for terrorists' while filming in Belfast

One of the stars of Line of Duty has spoken about being "mistaken for terrorists" while filming a scene in Belfast.

Appearing on the latest episode of local comedian Shane Todd's 'Tea With Me' podcast, Martin Compston said spoke about how he feared he and co-star Stephen Graham risked being mistaken for terrorists or armed robbers during one scene.

The 38-year-old, who played Detective Inspector Steve Arnott in the hit BBC series, said they sat in a car wearing balaclavas, when a resident knocked their window and alerted them to a squad of police waiting for them up the road.

Read more: Martin Compston gives disappointing update on Line of Duty

Speaking on the podcast about filming the scene in Beechmount Avenue in West Belfast, he said: “We were doing the last of the raid scenes, where me and Vicky [McClure] catch the balaclava men.

“We were up somewhere — RPG Alley or something you call it. We are the cops and we are waiting at the ambush bit, and there is a Land Rover full of balaclava men down the street.

“And somebody came out the door and said ‘Lads, watch, the cops are down there’.

“It’s another world, but it’s people’s lives, and if it’s what you grew up with, it’s kind of normal isn’t it?”

Martin also opened up about filming in Belfast, and said he's delighted about landmarks in the city being "claimed" by Line of Duty, as well as fans and crowds gathering everywhere they filmed over the years.

"I feel like it's gone huge," he added.

"When we started, we were getting three or four million viewers a week on BBC Two, but now it’s the most watched drama of the century, so it’s beyond what any of us thought. It seems each series that I’ve come back for, it’s grew and grew.

"In series five, we were still just getting away with it, with people watching us. But by the time we came back and we started series six, we had a crowd with us everywhere we went. It’s great.”

Referring to the ‘The Graffiti Underpass’, beside Belfast’s Albert Clock, which features on the show Martin said: “I love that now the pishy underpass where we used to meet has become a tourist hotspot.

“It was where we just used to go under to meet, but now it has been claimed.”

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