Adrian Dunbar is hoping for new Line of Duty series before he is ‘in a wheelchair’

The 65-year-old actor from Enniskillen is best known in recent years for his role as Superintendent Ted Hastings in the BBC's police corruption drama.

The show was filmed in Belfast for five of its six seasons and saw Dunbar star alongside Vicky McClure and Martin Compston.

The show’s finale attracted nearly 13 million viewers.

The sixth series wrapped up back in 2021 and while there have regularly been rumours of a return of the AC-12 officers by creator Jed Mercurio, so far nothing has been forthcoming.

Speaking to The Times at the weekend, Dunbar addressed questions over whether there would be a seventh series of the show.

“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,” he 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.”

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Earlier this year Compston, who played Detective Inspector Steve Arnott said Jed Mercurio would never write a new season “for the sake of writing it” and said there were no current plans to bring it back.

Reported by The Sun, Compston said: "Genuinely, there's no plans at all.”

“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] 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.

"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.”

Dunbar is currently preparing for his latest project, as the lead role in Kiss Me, Kate, Cole Porter’s 1948 musical, which opens at the Barbican on June 4.

In the interview the actor said it was his late mum Pauline’s love of the show which persuaded him to take it on.

“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.”