Say it ain’t so, Steve.
Line of Duty star Martin Compston has said that Sunday’s series six finale could be the last ever episode of the show. As an antidote to that sad news, however, Compston has promised that fans will get a “perfect ending” to the current series this weekend.
The 36-year-old Scottish actor (yes, he’s Scottish), who plays Steve Arnott in the hugely popular police drama, has revealed that the cast have not been told whether or not the show will be returning after this season.
Speaking to the Shrine Of Duty podcast, Compston said: “It’s different elements this year, because we have to look it in terms of, do people want us back? You don’t want to overdo it.
“10 years in, you start to think of legacy, and if it goes down that well it might be the perfect ending.
“But then we might go another couple of months and… what I will say is we won’t do one just for the sake of doing it.
“We don’t know [if there will be another series]. That’s nothing new. Jed [Mercurio] will only do it if there’s a story to be told.”
Show creator Jed Mercurio has already said that the show is in a situation “where it’s not entirely clear that there will be a seventh series”.
Compston went on to tell the podcast: “Jed always takes time after a series, like a couple of months.
“There’s a lot of stuff above my pay grade, like analytics and audience scores. He takes the emotion out of it and looks at all that.”
The series is going from strength to strength, however and if it doesn’t return for a seventh series, then it likely won’t be because the BBC has cancelled it – they’ll be desperate for it to return.
#LineOfDuty reached its highest ever overnight audience of 11 million for the penultimate episode of series six on @BBCOne, with a 51.7% audience share.
Don't miss the finale this Sunday at 9pm and watch the series so far on @BBCiPlayer: https://t.co/n6PGOM8WFP pic.twitter.com/luO7OdXFWX
— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) April 26, 2021
This series has been the most successful in the show’s history, with the most recent episode watched by an average of 11 million viewers, no mean feat for a terrestrial TV programme in the Netflix era.
This made it the most watched TV drama since the Doctor Who Christmas special in 2008, which was watched by 11.7 million people.
Only a couple of days to go now. The trailer has been released, the scene has been set, and it has all led to this…
Ahead of Sunday night’s finale, meanwhile, why not check our ranking of the coppers most likely to be revealed as ‘H’ right here.
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