Plans for Christmas special episodes of Line of Duty have reportedly been put on hold after one of the biggest stars of the show signed up for a US TV series instead. According to The Sun, the BBC was planning to air a number of special episodes of Line of Duty this Christmas, starring Martin Compston returning as Steve Arnott.
But Martin has reportedly committed to filming a second season of Amazon Prime's hit series The Rig. An insider told The Sun: “The Rig was a massive success for Prime Video, second only to Lord Of The Rings in terms of the millions who watched it around the world.
“Crucially, the show seemed to find a vast audience in the States, which provides Martin with the chance to raise his profile on the other side of the Atlantic and potentially carve out a career over there.
“It would also benefit him personally as he already has a house in the US with his American wife, Tianna Flynn, and their three-year-old son.”
In order to air episodes of Line of Duty this Christmas filming would need to happen this summer, with Martin set to return alongside Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar.
Martin teased the return of Line of Duty last summer, saying he was sure there would be another series “if there’s still a story to be told”.
Asked whether there was another series in the works, McClure said: “We always have a long break in between series so it’s not really too abnormal to what we normally do.”
Compston added: “We’re chuffed that people still want us to come back. We’ve done 10 years now.
“The fact that people still want to see the show is amazing and if there’s still a story to be told, I’m sure Jed will bring us back.”
McClure added: “We adore working with each other. Jed’s writing is phenomenal.
“We’ve been working together for over 10 years now and the last series was incredible in terms of the response that we got.
“It was really quite tough to shoot because it was in Covid so it would be lovely to go back and not end that kind of way.”
Last year, Line Of Duty star Adrian Dunbar said the hit police drama could return for a seventh series of “three or four episodes” or “two 90-minutes” specials. The 64-year-old actor, who plays Superintendent Ted Hastings in the BBC show, told The Times the final decision on the storyline was “entirely down” to creator Jed Mercurio.
The sixth series of the police drama, which aired from March to May in 2021, was a ratings success, with its dramatic finale revealing the identity of the mysterious corrupt officer H. Despite bringing a long-running storyline to an end, it also left the door open for another series.
Dunbar said: “There’s a big appetite for more Line Of Duty. It could be three or four episodes; I don’t think there’s going to be six, for some reason.
“It might be two 90 minutes. But it’s all entirely down to Jed what the storyline is going to be. It’s a big ask for him.”
He added: “It’s going to be really good. Maybe someone’s going to die. Someone’s going to be under threat.
“He doesn’t mind killing characters off. Maybe he’ll kill us all off. A terrible car crash when we’re rushing to the scene of a crime? We’ll have to leave it to him.”
The final episode of the BBC One series saw Detective Superintendent Ian Buckells, played by Nigel Boyle, unmasked as the mysterious H, the corrupt police officer at the top of a criminal conspiracy.
In June, Compston prompted speculation among fans when he posted a photo of himself having dinner with McClure, Dunbar and Mercurio, captioning the image “Talking tattoo designs”.
The group previously agreed they would get “AC-12 million” tattoos in reference to the show’s anti-corruption police unit if they reached 12 million viewers.
