The Rig creator on taking the supernatural thriller from the North Sea to the Arctic Circle

Childhood memories of towering oil rigs being built in the Cromarty Firth inspired the writer David Macpherson to dream up a North Sea-set supernatural thriller from his flat in the seaside town of Portobello in Edinburgh.

Iain Glen, Emily Hampshire and Martin Compston will be returning in the new series of The Rig, which launches on Prime Video on 2 January. | Prime Video

His vision for The Rig would become one of Scotland's biggest ever TV shows after being snapped up by producers Wild Mercury and global streaming service Prime Video.

Edinburgh-based writer David Macpherson is the creator of the Prime Video series The Rig. | Jamie Simpson

Macpherson and director John Strickland led a team from the production on a recce to an oil rig anchored off the Orkney Island before the show was made at the vast FirstStage Studios complex in Leith Docks, just a few miles from his home.

And when Macpherson was given the green light for a second series, he had no doubt where the next research trip should be.

The Rig creator David Macpherson launched the new series in Edinburgh with cast members including Iain Glen, Martin Compston, Owen Teale and Emily Hampshire. | Jamie Simpson

The first series ended with a group of crew members who survived a series of deadly events aboard the Kinloch Bravo rig being helicoptered to a mystery location as a tsunami swept towards the Scottish coastline.

Iain Glen, Martin Compston, Emily Hampshire, Molly Vevers, Rochenda Sandall, Owen Teale and Stuart McQuarrie are all returning to play crew members held captive by energy company Pictor at a secret off-shore facility in the Arctic Circle where deep sea mining is being tested.

Iain Glen and Martin Compston return in the new series of The Rig. | Prime Video

The Rig, which will return to Amazon Prime on January 2, was the first TV work by Macpherson, who grew up in Alness, near the Nigg oil terminal, and the first series to be made at FirstStage Studios when it opened in 2020.

Martin Compston, Emily Hampshire and Iain Glen at the launch of the new series of The Rig in Edinburgh. | Jamie Simpson

The writer said: "Even when we were shooting the first series, I kept expecting them to replace me with someone much more experienced, but I always hoped to be able to do a second series.

"I felt a lot of the first series was about the sins of the past. The characters had troubles and traumas they were working through, and the oil industry had reached a point of change.

Emily Hampshire and Iain Glen return in the new series of The Rig. | Amazon Prime Video

"The new series is much more about looking towards the future and the world we want to live in. One of my ambitions for this series was to expand the world of the show and make it feel like a global event is taking place.

Iain Glen and Martin Compston in the new series of The Rig. | Amazon Prime Video

"We take the characters out of their comfort zones and into different environments that I don't think people will have seen before in this style of show. It's much more of an action-driven thriller than the first series and has more of a conspiracy element to it, with Pictor trying to cover up what they've been up to.

Edinburgh-based writer David Macpherson is the creator of the Prime Video series The Rig. | Prime Video

After the second series was green-lit, Macpherson and Strickland led a recce to Iceland and Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Circle.

Macpherson said: "I've always been very interested in the Arctic and the Antarctic. David Attenborough programmes like Life in the Freezer and Frozen Planet really fascinated me, as did the old stories of the polar explorers.

"The Arctic is at the frontline of the climate crisis, while also being one of the largest remaining untapped reservoirs of fossil fuels and key resources left on the planet. I knew it would be the perfect setting to expand the world of The Rig."

Macpherson's new six-part story unfolds above and below the frozen landscapes of the Arctic, as well as on Pictor's prototype rig. Although it was hoped to film some scenes in the Arctic Circle, its landscapes were recreated inside the studio and in post-production work.

Macpherson said: "The thing about the Arctic is that the conditions change so much over the seasons. Our filming schedule didn't really match up with when the best conditions would be.

"It would have been lovely to film on location, but the practical aspect of it would have been very difficult. We shot almost everything for the new series in the studio, including all the snow and ice scenes.

"We built a large ice sheet that was probably more than 100m long, which had a big green screen all the way around it, and worked with a company who can make about 20 different kinds of snow.

"We had a really cool gadget which allowed us to load the early visual effects into an iPad, so that the actors could see where our new rig would be and the surrounding landscape. I think it really helped them embody their roles and get a sense of the environment."

Macpherson, who studied environmental policy at Edinburgh University before working on a Scottish Government programme on climate change, said he wanted the new series to show its immediate and long-term consequences, and how these are "filtered through the media and other powerful figures".

Issues explored in the new season have been echoed in a number of real-life stories, including the planned closure of Grangemouth oil refinery, controversy over Norway's plans to allow deep-sea mining, an implosion on a submarine during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic and devastating floods in Valencia.

Macpherson said: "Climate change is always in my mind when we're making the show. Unfortunately the rate of change is only going to become more apparent.

"But this series is also about advances in technology, politics and the way that people are treated in industries. We've a really good example of that with what is happening in Grangemouth.

"We were actually shooting undersea sequences at the same time that the submarine was lost going down to the Titanic. The deep ocean is probably more dangerous than going to space. It's a very unforgiving environment and very under-explored."

Macpherson revealed he had written to Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron, who directed Titanic, Aliens, The Abyss and Avatar, to thank him for inspiring the creation of The Rig.

He said: "It was his films that taught me that you can dream big. I really wanted to dream big and go as expansive as possible with this series.

"The Rig is a pretty unique show to come out of Scotland. I look at what Peter Jackson did in New Zealand with the Lord of the Rings films, which greatly expanded New Zealand's position in the film landscape. If we can have a tiny version of that impact in Scotland, I would be very proud.

"I've definitely got plans of how we could keep going on The Rig. The idea would be to step it up even higher the next time. I really want to keep telling global stories, but to do it here in Scotland."