MARTIN Compston has shown off his new Gaelic skills at the Glasgow Film Festival, revealing the language has "definitely not been easy" to learn.

The Line of Duty star said he was "tentatively learning Gaelic" for an upcoming BBC documentary project to find out "where Gaelic sits in modern Scotland".

The Scottish actor was in Glasgow for the 20th-anniversary screening of Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen, the film which launched his career from a schoolboy in Greenock to a household name.

Our sister title The National asked Compston if he could show off what Gaelic he has learned.

The actor then said "is mise Martin. Is toigh leam Irn Bru. Tha mi à Alba" which translates to “I'm Martin. I like Irn Bru. I am from Scotland."

He added that he recently found the expression "càite bheil an teine?" which means “where’s the fire?” which he said, “cracked me up”.

“I’m getting there,” he said. “I thought when I started it would be something that’s in my blood somewhere along the lines and it’ll come easy and it’s definitely not easy.

“But I’m enjoying it. It's just something that’s become a bit of a hobby. I’m excited to do it and hopefully it gets better as we go along.”

There were rumours Compston would turn up to Glasgow in one of the tracksuits he wore in Sweet Sixteen, but the actor told The National: “I bottled it."

He said: “I’ll need to find [them] because Carol, our lovely wardrobe designer for Sweet Sixteen is here, and she kept all of them. A couple were my actual tracksuits at the time. I think she has them hidden away somewhere.”

Compston, who has a home with his wife in Las Vegas, said it was emotional to be back in Scotland with the Sweet Sixteen crew.

Glasgow Times:

From left: Paul Laverty, Annmarie Fulton, Martin Compston and Rebecca O'Brien

He said: “We’ve still got our place in Greenock. I’ve been here the last wee while, and down in London, promoting Our House.

“It feels quite emotional to come back here and see the guys for sure. Twenty years feels like it’s flown by.”

He said he was “excited and nervous to see” Sweet Sixteen again, saying he’ll likely “cringe” at watching his 17-year-old self.

Asked if he could go back and ask his teenage self if he would believe the success he’s had, Compston replied: “No. Well, I mean, you’ve got to have a bit of belief in yourself. I think you do in this [industry].

“I think there’s a lot to say about having a chip on your shoulder. I always feel like I have something to prove.

“I feel that keeps me motivated, keeps me going and I don’t get complacent. In some ways I don’t believe it would have happened to me but in other ways I would never bet against myself. Who knows where I go from here.”

Glasgow Times:

Martin Compston was in Glasgow for the 20th-anniversary showing of Sweet Sixteen

Asked why Sweet Sixteen has endured in the minds of Scots for 20 years, Compston said: “A lot of that is to do with Ken [Loach] and the guys, they’ve got such a great track record of making films.

“And it’s just the truth of it because that’s the thing, looking back on it, I would sort of cringe because I didn’t know what I was doing on set and why did I do that?

“But that’s why it was so good because it was so raw. I couldn’t probably give that performance now because I was fearless. I'd be too worried about camera angles and all that stuff that’s in your subconscious now but whereas then I didn’t care.”