All in the Line of Duty for Thurso guitarist's 'top class' tune

Thurso-born musician Luke Gunn is delighted that his latest YouTube video has caught the attention of top-billed actors in a popular BBC police drama.

Luke's fingerstyle guitar rendition of the Line of Duty theme, originally composed by Carly Paradis, caught the attention of the show's stars Martin Compston and Vicky McClure when the video was posted online.

"The cover has been named 'top class' by actor Martin Compston and 'liked' by Vicky McClure on Instagram," said Luke who moved to Aberdeen from Thurso in 2005.

"I tagged Martin into my video, which he then tweeted to his 500,000 followers describing the cover as 'top class'. The recording is a unique rendition of the main theme played solely on guitar, fingerstyle, filmed near the Tunnels, Aberdeen."

Despite not knowing the actors personally or professionally, Luke said he is delighted that he can now count them in his ever-growing fanbase with over 1000 subscribers on his YouTube channel and some of the videos getting over 24,000 views.

Filming took place at the Tunnels, Aberdeen, where the musician sought to capture the "essence of the underpass location" used by Line of Duty producers where characters Steve Arnott (Compston) and Kate Fleming (McClure) would secretly meet up.

Luke said: "Recent releases include a Wellerman (sea shanty) cover – currently this video is receiving 10,000 views per month. Based on YouTube analytics, the Line of Duty rendition is on track to emulate these numbers and help it to go viral."

The Line of Duty TV show has been a huge hit with fans worldwide with Season 6 breaking records to become one of the most successful dramas of the 21st century.

"The score, composed by Carly Paradis, has such a cool vibe and worked so well with the shows visuals. If you listen carefully you can hear a Game of Thrones likeness, which made it even more appealing to do a fingerstyle cover for."

Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking which involves plucking individual notes with a single plectrum known as a "pick".

Apart from the Line of Duty stars, Luke has gained other celebrity fans including Oscar and Grammy Award winning songwriter Kristen-Anderson Lopez who worked on Disney's Frozen and TikTok star, Nathan Evans.

To watch more of Luke's videos and find out further information visit his website at www.lukegunn.com and his YouTube channel www.youtube.com/lukegunnmusic and also the Facebook page www.facebook.com/lukegunnmusic

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