Line of Duty fans will be disappointed by the latest update concerning rumours that the BBC show is returning.
Earlier this month, Adrian Dunbar – who played Superintendent Ted Hastings in the hit series – hinted that the police procedural would be making a comeback.
In a new interview with The Independent, however, Vicky McClure has firmly shut down the speculation.
“That headline was a corker, wasn’t it?” the actor said, in reference to the recent Times Radio interview with Dunbar titled: “‘Looks like’ Line of Duty is coming back, teases Adrian Dunbar.”
“But then you read the article, and he’s quite rightly said, ‘We’d all love to do it, and until all those stars align, nothing’s happening,” said McClure.
The actor, 41, played DC Kate Fleming throughout all six seasons of the show opposite Dunbar and Martin Compston.
Asked whether she had been warned off revealing anything further by creator Jed Mercurio, McClure said: “No, that’s all on you lot. That’s fine. You crack on, because we would love to, but until we actually say something, or Jed says something, or something gets announced, it’s just headlines.”
Asked by Times Radio about the prospect of a revival, Dunbar, 66, told the broadcaster: “All the signals and everything is [positive] but until the script hits the desk, you can’t be 100 per cent sure.”
He continued: “We’re all hoping that someone somewhere will make an announcement and say, ‘Yes, it’s happening’. And we can all take it from there. I can tell you one thing … the day they announce it, it’s going to burn up the internet.”
You can read the full interview with McClure here.
McClure’s latest statement on a potential return will surely come as a disappointment to fans whose demands for a new series were reignited in October after McClure, Dunbar, and co-star Martin Compston were spotted reuniting for a chaotic rickshaw ride around London.
In a clip posted to Instagram by Compston, who played DI Steve Arnott in the hit BBC police drama, the trio are seen laughing hysterically while dancing and singing along to songs “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor and “Shackles (Praise You)” by Mary Mary blasting from a speaker.
“AC12 oot and aboot,” Compston captioned the post, in a nod to the name of their fictional anti-corruption police division depicted in the series.
The trio played the roles of Steve Arnott, Kate Fleming, and Ted Hastings in the much-loved drama, which depicted the lives of the team working in a unit tasked with rooting out corruption within the police. The series last aired in 2021 after launching in 2012.
While it’s unknown whether the series will ever return for a seventh season, Dunbar previously suggested that a new series could take the form of a film or as few as two episodes.
