Adrian Dunbar as Superintendent Ted Hastings in Line Of Duty (BBC/PA)
(Picture: PA Media)Warning, Line of Duty spoilers ahead.
Adrian Dunbar, aka Ted Hastings, aka everyone’s favourite superintendent, has recently spoken out about the possibility of a Line of Duty spin-off, and for the show’s millions of fans, the news couldn’t be more welcome.
Speaking to the Radio Times this week Dunbar said: “There’s been talk about a movie or a four-parter or two 90 minutes. We’d love to do it again. I’m really hoping something might happen next year.”
The hit BBC show, which was created by Jed Mercurio, went from strength to strength over its 10-year run. In 2012, it’s first season had 4.1 million viewers - the biggest audience for a BBC drama in a decade. By the finale of the sixth and last season, the country had become completely obsessed, with a whopping 12.8 million people tuning in to watch the last episode back in May.
Teasing audiences further, Dunbar said that there was “something in Jed’s laptop – a couple of templates as to how things could go”.
The actor, who is starring in ITV’s new detective series Ridley, also addressed the fact that some fans felt let down by the finale. The identity of corrupt policeman H was finally revealed as the bumbling DSU Ian Buckells, which many fans felt was a bit of a cop out.
In an interview with the Independent published today, Dunbar said: “There never really is a kind of ‘Mr Big’ where the police are concerned – it’s usually just someone not passing on a piece of information, turning a blind eye. It’s the very simple things like that, that actually make the big crimes work – somebody’s decided not to pay attention to a piece of information because they’re in the pocket of some criminal. So I thought it was a very clever – if not wholly satisfying dramatically – way of ending the series.”
But speaking with the Radio Times this week, Dunbar also suggested that perhaps Buckells isn’t H after all.
He said: “Yes! He’s not H. We just got the guy we could actually pin a charge on. We didn’t get ‘H’, we got Buckells, the patsy. He’s a distraction.”
He then went on to appear to agree that Chief Constable Philip Osborne is a more likely candidate. “That’s probably where it’s heading unless there’s another twist and someone’s pulling his strings,” said Dunbar.
Dunbar hasn’t been the only Line of Duty cast member to have been talking about a new installment. Martin Compston, who played Detective Inspector Steve Arnott said to the Radio Times: “We’re so delighted that after all that time, people still want us. If Jed thinks there’s a story, we’d all love to work together again.”
The award-winning series revolves around Anti-Corruption Unit 12, whose job is to investigate corruption within the police force.
