The Rig: A supernatural oil rig thriller with very Scottish roots
Claustrophobic with no way on or off and no way of getting away from someone you don’t agree with – an oil rig lends itself so perfectly as the setting of a drama, it’s a surprise we don’t see more shows based on them.
New supernatural thriller simply called The Rig sees a crew cut off from the mainland when a mysterious thick fog appears, and with no communication with the outside world and plenty of dissent among the characters, it’s not long until things start unravelling.
The first Amazon Video original to be shot entirely in Scotland, the show boasts a stellar cast of Scottish actors including Martin Compston, Iain Glen and Mark Bonnar, and also includes Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire playing a character we’ve not seen her do before.
She told Sky News she sees parallels between the lives of those working on rigs, and those in her own profession.
“It’s similar to an actor’s life without all the danger.
“When I read it – because I knew nothing about rigs or that industry – I did think it was similar in the way that you go into this bubble with these people who you have to become close with instantly and then you’re going to leave.
“And forming really close attachments that you can be detached to after was something that I’m comfortable with and know.”
There was also some familiarity in the script for Line Of Duty star Martin Compston.
Brought up in Greenock in Scotland’s west central lowlands, the actor’s own father worked on oil rigs, and friends of his still do.
Martin Compston stars in The Rig. Pic: Amazon Prime
He told Sky News: “It was lovely to lean on them because being an actor, it can feel otherworldly to people who are not in the industry, so it was nice to lean on them and ask them about different things.
“But I’m sure they’ll pick me up on a few things when it comes out.
“Because my dad still works in the shipyards, I got to give him my boots after the thing, which was lovely!”
As well as being a supernatural drama, The Rig also serves as an environmental warning.
But Compston says that doesn’t change the fact that they’re there to serve an audience.
Emily Hampshire. Pic: Amazon Prime
“I think our first role is to entertain, to get something with a message across it has to be entertaining first or people are just going to switch off, you know?
“So I think that’s what David’s [Macpherson – the show’s creator] script does really well, it’s high octane, it’s enjoyable, and then I mean, climate change is here, it’s not up for debate and we should be very proud of what we achieved in the North Sea in terms of the feats of engineering, and being Scottish it’s a part of our heritage we should cherish and it’s still got a role to play going forward, but that role is getting greatly reduced.
“The world’s changing and we need to evolve with it – Mark Bonner’s got that wonderful line – ‘you keep punching holes in the earth, eventually it’s going to punch back’.”
The show boasts a stellar cast of Scottish actors. Pic: Amazon Prime
Hampshire says she was keen to be involved in the show because she wanted to play the scientist Rose in the hope she would become more like her.
The actress admitted: “I just love how work obsessed she is because I’m that way.
“But she’s this woman who goes into this man’s world and is unapologetic about it and doesn’t care about being liked, which was something – I’m Canadian, we’re sorry for everything, ‘I’m so sorry I exist’.
“I wanted some of that Rose kind of like, doesn’t give a s**t to rub off on me.”
The role brought her to Scotland for the first time, but she says she felt very at home in the country.
“I just instantly felt like these are my people in a way – coz I’m Canadian and we are very different from Americans – there is really this connection, I feel, with UK actors and Scottish actors and people that we can make fun of ourselves.
“And there’s a sense of humour that I respond to, that you guys have.”
For Compston the opportunity to film a whole series without leaving his home country was something he really enjoyed.
“I’m chuffed to bits with it.
“The industry up there just feels like it’s thriving and [on previous jobs] people would come up to the location shoots – I’ve even done that myself on a big location movie – and then we come down and do the studio down south.
“But the fact now we have these facilities, and we can actually keep our crew, our very talented crews local and have work there you know, I’m delighted with it.”
The Rig is out on Prime Video today.
They’re getting through 70kg of rice a day and the wholesaler has run out of noodles. Yes, Sumo returns to London on Wednesday.
It’s just the second time a Grand Tournament has been held outside of Japan – and this is a sport that has records going back more than 1,500 years.
It’s 34 years since the Royal Albert Hall hosted the only previous such event on foreign soil – and the appetite for tickets meant all five days sold out immediately.
Much of the focus is on the two grand champions or yokozuna, the 74th and 75th men to attain the rank.
They’re the Mongolian Hoshoryu Tomokatsu, plus Japan’s Onosato Daiki – who this year became the quickest wrestler to achieve the rank in the modern era.
“I’m happy that Sumo is back after so many years,” Onosato said. “I hope I can show the UK fans how fantastic Sumo is.”
“Being a yokozuna has a lot of responsibility,” Hoshoryu told Sky Sports. “We have to show everyone an example of what a yokozuna is – and that’s very difficult.
“My uncle was a yokozuna – and I’m happy to follow in his footsteps. But I came here to London as a yokozuna which he didn’t, so I’m even happier.”
The two are already great rivals.
Onosato Daiki became the quickest ever to achieve yokozuna rank. Pic: AP
At the recent Aki Basho – the most prestigious tournament on the sumo calendar – the pair finished with identical records after 15 days of bouts.
It all came down to a final play-off between the two yokozuna – the first time that had happened in 16 years. It was Onosato who came out on top on that occasion.
Hoshoryu says he is a big fan of basketball and football. He follows Chelsea, although his favourite players are going back a bit: “Didier Drogba and Petr Cech. He’s the ‘keeper. I like this guy!”
Early starts and a hearty stew: The life of a rikishi
The wrestlers – or rikishi – have a rigorous training regime.
They live in communal blocks called stables and practice starts early. Perhaps surprisingly, everyone skips breakfast. After training and practice – and for the younger rikishi, chores – the wrestlers all eat together.
The staple of their diet is chankonabe, a hearty stew packed with meat and vegetables. The feeding of the 40 rikishi who have come over for the five-day tournament is a challenge in itself.
Donagh Collins, the CEO of co-organisers Askonas Holt, said: “We are going through 70 kilos of rice a day. Somebody told me that the wholesaler for the noodles has run out of noodles. We’re really pushing the system here.”
The ring – or dohyo – is just 4.55m in diameter and quite small when two giant wrestlers leap at each other.
The aim of the fights is to either get your opponent onto the floor – or, more spectacularly, shove or hurl them out of the dohyo, so spectators in the ringside seats may be getting extremely up-close to the wrestlers.
The last time the tournament was in Britain, the massive Konishiki, known as the Dump Truck, took centre stage.
The giant Hawaiian was the heaviest-ever rikishi coming in at 287kg – or 45 stone. That’s a lot of wrestler to dodge if he comes falling out of the ring towards you.
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The Royal Albert Hall may be firstly a concert venue, but it has hosted the likes of John McEnroe, Lennox Lewis and even Muhammad Ali.
And for the next five days, the cream of the world of sumo will be thrilling the crowds – provided a new noodle supplier is found.
What is a yokozuna?
Yokozuna is the highest rank in sumo, with its name meaning “horizontal rope” and refers to the rope worn around a competitor’s waist as they enter the ring.
An emergency vote on Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest has been called off following developments in the Middle East, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has said.
Contest organisers had scheduled “an extraordinary meeting of [its] general assembly to be held online” in early November after several countries said they would no longer take part in Eurovision if Israel participated.
The EBU said in a statement that following “recent developments in the Middle East” the executive board had agreed on Monday that there should be an in-person discussion among members “on the issue of participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026”.
It said the matter had now been added to the agenda of its winter general assembly, which will take place in December.
Further details about the session would be shared with EBU members in the coming weeks, it added.
It is not clear if a vote will still take place at a later date.
Austria is hosting next year’s show in Vienna. The country’s national broadcaster, ORF, told Reuters news agency it welcomed the EBU’s decision.
Sky News has contacted Israeli broadcaster KAN for comment.
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Will Eurovision boycott Israel?
Faced with controversy over the conflict in Gaza, Eurovision – which labels itself a non-political event – had said member countries would vote on whether Israel should or shouldn’t take part.
Slovenia and broadcasters from Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Iceland had all issued statements saying if Israel was allowed to enter, they’d consider boycotting the contest.
As one of the “Big Five” backers of Eurovision, Spain’s decision to leave the competition would have a significant financial impact on the event – which is the world’s largest live singing competition.
In September, a letter from EBU president Delphine Ernotte Cunci, said “given that the union has never faced a divisive situation like this before” the board agreed it “merited a broader democratic basis for a decision”.
Read more:
Why Eurovision vote on Israel might not stop boycott
Could Eurovision boycott lead to a competition crisis?
On Monday, Palestinian militant group Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza, and Israel released busloads of Palestinian detainees, under a ceasefire deal aimed at bringing an end to the two-year war in the Middle East.
The war began when Hamas stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation, with airstrikes and ground assaults devastating much of the enclave and killing more than 67,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants but it says around half of those killed were women and children.
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