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.
The mother of Cassie Ventura has told a court she felt “physically sick” when her daughter told her Sean “Diddy” Combs had threatened to “release two explicit sex tapes” after discovering his long-time girlfriend was dating someone else.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, the seventh day of the trial, Regina Ventura said she did not initially understand the email Cassie sent her in December 2011, saying, “The sex tape threw me, [Diddy] was trying to hurt my daughter.”
The email said Combs was planning to release two explicit videos of her and send someone to hurt her and the man she was seeing, rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi.
Regina said the family took out a home equity loan and paid Diddy $20,000 to recoup money he had spent on Cassie “because he demanded it,” angry that Cassie was now dating Cudi.
She said the money was returned days later.
During her evidence, jurors were shown photographs of bruises on Cassie’s body Ms Ventura said were taken when her daughter returned home for Christmas in 2011.
Regina’s time on the stand was fairly brief, as the defence declined the opportunity to question her.
Scott Mescudi, aka Kid Cudi, who dated Cassie in 2011. Pic: Reuters
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Day 7 – As it happened
Prosecutors say Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, forced women to take part in days-long, drug-fuelled sexual performances known as “Freak Offs” from 2004 to 2024, facilitated by his large retinue of staff. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty.
The rapper faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs and Cassie pictured in 2015. Pic: Reuters
Last week, the prosecutors’ star witness, Cassie Ventura, who dated Combs for over a decade, spent four days giving evidence.
Combs’s legal team has sought to show jurors that his relationship with Ventura was complicated, and while they acknowledge he was an abusive partner, and had substance issues, they say the sex acts described by the prosecution were consensual.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the Sean Combs trial
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
‘Diddy wanted our bodies to shine’
A male exotic dancer nicknamed “The Punisher” also gave testimony, telling jurors that in the autumn of 2012, Cassie contacted him asking him to “create a sexy, erotic scene” Diddy, and using the pseudonym “Janet”.
Male exotic dancer Sharay Hayes, aka The Punisher. Pic: Reuters
Sharay Hayes said he went on to have eight to 12 more encounters with the couple, having sex with Cassie, while Diddy watched from a distance.
He described the hotel rooms as routinely being dressed with electric candles and sheet-covered furniture, and says Cassie told him not to “acknowledge” her husband, and to “try not to look at him and no communication”.
He says Diddy would often wear a cap, and he could not see his face, but he later realised it was the famous rapper.
“The Punisher” mentioned using a “considerable amount of baby oil” during the performances, saying “[Diddy] wanted us to keep our bodies covered, to shine”.
He later described the acts as “a fetish type thing,” and while he said he believed Cassie was fully consensual, he also said he “did occasionally see her sigh or wince” and said she would frequently look at Diddy “for cues”.
Paid between $1,200 (£900) and $2,000 (£1.500) for each performance, he said he was not called back after struggling to get an erection during one encounter.
He said he never saw Diddy use drugs or saw filming during any of the performances.
Car park dispute with Suge Knight
David James, Diddy’s ex-personal assistant, also completed his evidence and testified that he never saw physical violence between Cassie and his former boss.
David James, Combs’s former assistant. Pic: Reuters
James, who worked for Diddy for two years, said he left Diddy’s employment after he realised his “life was in danger” following a dispute in a car park with rival record label owner Suge Knight, which culminated in Diddy bringing three handguns to try to find Knight and his entourage.
He also detailed an altercation between Diddy and his personal chef, Jourdan Atkinson, and said he refused to file a police report after Diddy told him to say “Chef Jourdan hit him first”.
The final person to give evidence was a special agent responsible for planning the March 2024 raids on Combs’s Miami home on Star Island.
Steve Gannon showed photos of items taken during the raid, including sex toys, high heels and loaded guns, and explained how an armoured vehicle was used to break down the mansion’s front gate to gain entry while the family was away on a trip.
Combs has been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since September and faces at least 15 years or possibly life in prison if convicted.
The trial is set to last for around two months.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway