As fans hope for some long-awaited answers in the sixth series starting on Sunday, the three central stars have one question: Will any of them be killed off in the Line of Duty?
Martin Compston, Adrian Dunbar and Vicky McClure have been in the show since it began in 2012, but they know no one is safe from writer Jed Mercurio’s jaw-dropping plot twists.
With ever more drama surrounding the AC-12 anti-corruption team, will one of the trio be solving their final case?
Martin, who plays DS Steve Arnott, says: “It would be interesting in this series or next if one of us goes.
“We haven’t dealt with this, we kinda now come as one package in our heads.
“With Jed, he’d never do it for the sake of doing it, it would be to further the story. But it would be interesting. It’s hard to think how it would work, knowing one of them wasn’t going to be there. So that would be interesting if it ever came up.”
Vicky, who plays DI Kate Fleming, adds: “It would be a massive shame. When that day comes because you know nothing lasts forever. It will be a really sad time. It’s the longest-standing job that I’ve ever had. So yeah, I’ll keep going until I’m told not to.”
The pair return alongside Adrian as Ted Hastings and several new characters including DCI Joanne Davidson, played by Giri/Haji star Kelly MacDonald.
Kelly was thrown in at the deep end with a 30-minute interrogation scene – one of the show’s longest ever.
She says: “One of the interview scenes is bigger than anything I’ve done before, I think over half an hour. We filmed it over two days, and on the first day the cameras were only on my character. There were 50 cameras set up on me just in that one day, which is mind blowing.”
But the Trainspotting actress relished the challenge, saying: “It was like doing a play and it was a real treat to have that kind of material in one scene!”
Davidson arrives on the show as the senior investigating officer on an unsolved murder case, whose suspicious conduct attracts the attention of the AC-12 team.
Kelly said: “At the start of the series, she’s quite a lonely figure. She’s struggling and we don’t quite know why that is.
“She’s got a very stressful position and deals with it well, but is quite a closed-off person.
“There’s a lot going on under the surface with her. She gets to the point where she has to make tricky decisions.”
Over nine million watched the Season Five finale in 2019, and fans will expect more big shocks in the new series.
Writer Jed has form for killing off top talent including Craig Parkinson as corrupt AC-12 colleague “Dot” Cottan, and Keeley Hawes as DI Lindsay Denton.
Call the Midwife’s Jessica Raine, as new recruit Georgia Trotman, was thrown from a window in her first episode.
But whether writer Jed would risk upsetting fans by removing one of the central trio remains to be seen.
*Line of Duty, BBC1, Sunday, 9pm.
