Line of Duty is one of the most well known television shows to have been broadcast on our screens, with Greenock's very own Martin Compston at the forefront of the drama series.
However, Martin almost wasn't in it as he revealed in his latest podcast, Restless Natives alongside Gordon Smart and pal, Craig Parkinson.
Craig, who played DI Matthew "Dot" Cotton in the crime drama, said he was "proud" of the story about how he came to get his role alongside the Scots actor.
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Talking on the podcast Martin explained: "So I was filming Piggie and I was quite an intense man at the time and didn't want to get distracted by other things and Craig phoned me and went 'have you got this thing through for Line of Duty' and I said 'yeah but I don't think I'm gonna go in for it'.
"And he says 'I think it's the best TV script I've ever read you had better get down here and go for it.'"
At the time, what we now know to be LOD was called Andrews and to make things even more competitive, the pals were auditioning for the same role of DS Steve Arnott.
Craig said: "We met in the pub before, Soho, to run the scenes together it was that same night, or the night after, I got a phone call going 'you haven't got it' and I went 'that's alright who's got it' and they went 'Martin Compston'.
"I went 'brilliant' but then they wanted to talk to me about this other role."
Having reread the script, he went for the other role but like the series, his character originally had another name.
He explained: "Dot wasn't called Dot at the time, he was called Babs Windsor and I went 'Well if there's a chance of working with him [Martin] again'
Martin added Craig was a bit "hesitant" to go for the role of who we now know to be Dot, as at the time, his character arc wasn't as "obvious" until they got more scripts in.
But it's safe to say after several seasons and the soaring success, the pals were glad they auditioned in the end. Fans still remain keen for yet another series alongside Adrian Dunbar and Vicky McClure.
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