Adrian Dunbar has let slip that Line of Duty is likely to return for a new series. Mother of God!
“I hope so...looks like it!” said the man who plays Superintendent Ted Hastings to Times Radio, “All the signals and everything is [there] but as somebody said, until the script hits the desk you can’t be 100% sure. So we’re all hoping that someone somewhere will make an announcement...
“I can tell you one thing...the day they announce it, it’s going to burn up the internet.”
Indeed it will, since Dunbar’s comments have already started the excitement. It is now three years since the finale of the BBC show, the climax to the six series long mystery about the identity of ‘H’, the big baddie working within the police and against AC-12. A finale which, for many of the 12.8 million fans who watched it, was a distinctly underwhelming reveal.
It seems that series creator Jed Mercurio has had second thoughts about leaving things that way. In the aftermath of the finale coming out, he took to Twitter to defend it in some lengthy posts, including one where he brought up a piece of audience research:
1. No one disputes the Line of Duty finale divided social media opinion but the audience research so far shows a far less extreme picture. We knew a "down" ending would rate less favourably with some viewers, however all 7 episodes varied by under 10% on average viewer score ...
— Jed Mercurio (@jed_mercurio) May 5, 2021
“1000 random viewers submitted scores from 1-10 which have been used to calculate the Appreciation Index (AI) as a score out of 100. The AI for the “down” finale was only 7 points below the next lowest in Season 6 (Ep 1)..”
Which didn’t quell the response.
Spoiler alert
Even the actor who’s character was revealed as ‘H’ or the ‘Fourth Man’ was taken aback.
Nigel Boyle, who played DCI Ian Buckells said at the time, “I never suspected it because I know how Jed leads people down the garden path with really good red herrings, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to things like Buckell’s golf clubs etc, but clearly I should have done! I’d fully bought into the idea that Buckells was low on competence levels but looking back it all makes sense!”
Many viewers were also in disbelief that the shady mastermind was the series’ annoying comic relief, and news of a series rival will be the cause of huge excitement, a chance to – despite the research – right some wrongs.
Read our recap of what went down in the finale, and our look at Line of Duty’s most shocking moments.
