Martin Compston is happy to go back to his dark side

Martin Compston is one of Scotland’s most successful actors with a huge list of movies and TV series to his name.

Films Sweet Sixteen, recent release The Wee Man and telly dramas Monarch of the Glen and Line of Duty are just a few.

But Martin has told The Sunday Post he knows it could have been even better if he hadn’t been so keen on living life to the full.

“I’ve been doing this for a decade now which is kind of scary,” said 28-year-old Martin, who stars in ITV’s big new drama The Ice Cream Girls this week.

“I don’t feel old and I know it’s been great, even better than I could have imagined.

“But I also know the stuff I’ve missed out on. At times I might have knuckled down a bit harder, taken things a bit more seriously.

“At the same time I don’t regret it. I loved that I got all the holidays with my mates, went to football and T in the Park.

“I like a bit of fun but knowing where it could have gone gives you something to strive for.”

The Ice Cream Girls is an adaptation of Dorothy Koomson’s international bestseller about two schoolgirls accused of murdering their teacher in 1995.

Their lives go in very different directions until they have to confront their past when they meet in the present day.

Martin plays a teacher with a very dark side.

“I was chuffed to get this, it’s a cracking script,” confides the Greenock-born former footballer.

“I’ve played dark stuff before but never a predator like this. He’s a really charming guy to start with who becomes deluded and goes on this mad power trip with these young girls he sort of seduced.”

Martin’s a screen chameleon with faultless English accents.

“I’ve a good ear for them but I work my backside off to get them right,” he reveals.

“I stay with it all day on set. The only time I break it is when I speak to my folks back home they wouldn’t talk to me otherwise!”

The Ice Cream Girls, ITV1, Fridays at 9pm until May 7.