Martin Compston is best known for his role as DCI Steve Arnott in BBC's Line of Duty, but is playing someone totally different in his latest role.
The Scots actor, 37, is ditching the police station for the bedroom as he takes on womaniser Bram Lawson in ITV series Our House.
The Greenock-born star is back on screens tonight to play the cheating husband in the new mystery thriller.
Despite not speaking very highly of his new character, he told Radio Times that despite his actions he is also a "nice guy".
"On the page, he's an absolute b******," admits Compston. "The producers have all been very kind because they said that's one of the reasons they came to me because you have to make him likeable.
"As an actor, as I play the scenes I also have to remember some of the stuff he's done.
"You have to keep that at the forefront because otherwise, he becomes a psychopath, that he's sort of this nice guy regardless of what he's done.
"You have to really grab on to the moments where he is a good guy - there are few and far between.
"He's like, 'when everything's going well, it just feels all that mundane' - and he needs to inject the chaos into it, he needs a bit of excitement."
Compston concludes: "I don't think he's inherently a bad guy at all, he's made a couple of really stupid mistakes which probably in terms of a marriage are unforgivable, but once that sort of spirals, he's just way out of his depth."
He adds to the publication that this isn't a background show, and viewers will need to concentrate to follow the story.
"You need to pay attention, you have to follow it - I don't think it's something where people can be sitting on their phones and social media while they're watching it," Compston says.
"Jumping those timelines is difficult, but I also thought what the edit did was really clever and really brave by not putting timestamps on it.
"I think that makes it in some ways a lot smoother because you're not just jumping, it just sort of naturally happens."
In an interview with The Sun, Martin touched on the awkwardness of filming sex scenes and having to strip off in front of a full cast and crew.
He said: “Look, they’re always awkward. I mean, you’re getting your kit off and doing that kind of thing in front of a room full of people.
“It’s never something you look forward to. But at the same time you’ve got to commit to it. You want to make it real. So it’s awkward.
“But you really need to go for it once you’re in the moment. There used to be an old attitude which I suppose is of its time which was, ‘Oh, just get on with it — just do it’.
“But you kind of need to be aware of everybody’s boundaries, what everybody is comfortable with.”
The four-part drama is adapted by Simon Ashdown from the international best-selling novel and produced by Red Planet Pictures.
Are you excited for Martin's new show? Let us know in the comments.
Our House airs Monday night at 9pm on ITV.
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