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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Entertainment
Sophie McLaughlin

DNA Journey: Adrian Dunbar's Line of Duty co-star reveals he recommended him for the iconic role

Adrian Dunbar and Neil Morrissey team up in Tuesday night's episode of DNA journey as they travel to Ireland to learn about their family histories.

The duo, who have been friends for 42 years since they met in drama school, started alongside each other in the popular crime drama Line of Duty which was filmed in Northern Ireland.

In the episode using DNA and genealogy, they are on a journey that will take them across the UK and Ireland, reconnecting with lost cousins and unearthing long-held family secrets.

Read more: Adrian Dunbar and Line of Duty co-star on new series of ITV's DNA Journey

Neil revealed that he actually got Adrian his iconic as Ted Hastings in Line of Duty.

He said: "I mean I hate to tell you this but I got him the job.

"I was auditioning for this thing, Line of Duty and I was up for Nigel Morton and the lines opposite was an interview with Ted Hastings and I said to the Director, who's playing Ted Hastings and they went, 'We haven't cast it yet' and I went, have you thought of Adrian Dunbar?"

Adrian went on to say "he does claim that if it wasn't for him, which I'm absolutely fine with claiming that."

A moment in the new series shows the acting pair heading to Castlecomer in Ireland where Neil discovers the battles between his ancestors, the Loughlins, with another infamous local family, the Brennan’s.

How in a romance that echoes Romeo and Juliet – a Loughlin girl and a Brennan boy married, moved to England and had a son, Joe.

Following the tragic turns and eventual highs of cousin Joe’s life, Neil finds himself having pavlova with priests and clutching Joe’s bible - his first tangible connection with a relative’s life

Adrian and Neil's DNA Journey episode airs on ITV and ITVX at 9pm on Tuesday, March 21

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