Adrian Dunbar Hopes For A New Line Of Duty Series Before He Is 'In A Wheelchair'

Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar has said that he hopes the show will return for a new series soon.

The actor who starred alongside Vicky McClure and Martin Compston in the BBC police corruption drama, has said that he hopes the show will return before he gets any older.

Speaking over the weekend, Dunbar who played Superintendent Ted Hastings on the show, which last aired in 2021, addressed questions over a possible return, while currently preparing for his latest acting role in Cole Porter's 1948 musical, Kiss Me Kate. 

Speaking to the Times, Dunbar joked that he hopes any new series of Line of Duty will be made soon, before he is "in a wheelchair". 

“We all want it to come back. It’s apposite that today should be their birthdays because I really don’t want them getting any older", Dunbar said. “I don’t want to get any older either because we don’t want to be coming back when we’re in a wheelchair. Ted Hastings with a Zimmer frame". 

This comes after co-star Martin Compston who played DS Steve Arnott on the show, revealed that there were no current plans for a new season.

"Genuinely, there's no plans at all", Compston had said previously. “We all love each other more than just colleagues now, they're some of my dearest friends, and we'd all love to work together at some point, but there's no plans". 

"I don’t think Jed [Mercurio] (the writer) would ever write it for the sake of writing it, it would have to be with a story. We went out on such a high in terms of [viewing] figures in the last series; maybe it's the best way to leave it. I know that's probably not what people want to hear", the actor added. 

"Never say never but with these things, the longer you leave it… But we still speak, if not daily, weekly, all of us. I miss hanging out with all of them. It was a great feeling being able to go to work with people you call best friends every day". 

"big inspiration"

Speaking ahead of his upcoming project, Adrian Dunbar said that he was inspired to take on the lead role in Kiss Me Kate, thanks to his late mother Pauline's love of the show. 

“Maybe that was something that prompted me to do it,” he said. “She was a big inspiration to me and, like a lot of people, your mother gives you the licence to go and do something".

Dunbar will star in the remake of Kiss Me Kate, which opens up at the Barbican in the West End on June 4.