Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar has spoken about the potential for the hit BBC police drama to take to the big screens and return in the form of a movie. The actor, who is best known for playing Superintendent Ted Hastings in the popular crime series, revealed he didn't know what "shape" a return will take but confirmed he had heard talks of a film being a possibility.
The 63-year-old expressed his doubts that the hit drama would return for a full length series for a seventh time. But Line of Duty fans will be pleased to hear that he did suggest we could get an update on the future of the show before September.
He added that it "would be nice" to reunite with his fellow AC-12 co-stars Martin Compston and Vicky McClure. The cast and crew usually spend a couple of months over in Belfast, Northern Ireland to film the programme, which was created and written by Jed Mercurio.
Teasing what could be in store for fans, Adrian added that a shorter series could be an option or some longer special episodes. “I think there might be something, there’s something going on out there regarding Line of Duty,” Adrian Dunbar told the PA news agency, adding: “I’m not sure what shape it’ll take… somebody was talking about possibly a film or maybe you know two 90 minutes or three episodes.
“I’m not sure you’d get a full series. But I think there’s still an audience out there to see the three of us back together again. It certainly would be nice to get back to Belfast where we’ve always had good fun.”
Speaking to PA in his home town of Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh, Adrian added: “It depends what they come up with. I think we’ll hear something shortly about it. I’ve got a feeling that before September is out we might hear something about Line of Duty that we can tell people.”
The sixth series of the police drama, which saw Kelly Macdonald star in a guest role, saw huge success in the BBC ratings last year. In the dramatic series finale, the identity of the mysterious corrupt officer H was finally revealed.
But this autumn, Adrian is returning to our TV screens in a brand new police role where he will be playing a retired detective in new ITV drama Ridley - which was filmed in Lancashire.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the audiences in the UK take to that,” he said. “It’s written by a guy called Paul Matthew Thompson who writes for Vera, so we’ve got good writers on it and it’s nice, there’s a bit of music in it as well, which I think separates it from other things. So, I’m keeping my fingers really crossed that that’s going to do well.”
The 63-year-old actor, who is based in London, has been back in Ireland this summer filming more episodes of his Channel 5 series, Coastal Ireland. “That was very successful for Channel Five so I’m hoping that it’ll pick up good numbers again,” he said: “It’s really good fun to do."
You can watch all six series of Line of Duty over on the BBC iPlayer.
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