Having produced BBC's new drama Bloodlands, Jed Mercurio is a busy man of late but it appears that he's not going to be slowing down anytime soon.
With Season 6 of Line Of Duty set to be released in the coming weeks, fans of the wonderful police drama can't wait until AC-12 return in the pursuit of more bent coppers.
Well, during an interview with Jay Rayner on the Out To Lunch podcast, Mercurio gave his strongest indication yet that Line Of Duty will continue beyond the upcoming sixth season.
While stating that he's not 100% sure if Line of Duty will get a seventh season, Mercurio said: "I really want to carry on with Line of Duty... I think that season 6 proves that there is much more ground for us still to cover."
Adrian Dunbar (Ted Hastings) echoed these sentiments during a relatively recent interview on The Graham Norton Radio Show where he expressed his hope that the crime drama will continue beyond Season 6.
"I think as long as there's an appetite from our audience for the show, we'll keep going," Dunbar told Norton.
"Why would we stop? We've managed to keep the standard, Jed [Mercurio, show creator] rather, has managed to keep the standard so high for so long, and people love the show. I hope it does go on. But of course, everything is finite, I see Peaky Blinders is coming off after six fabulous seasons. When it ends, it will end, and we'll have all had the most wonderful time," he said.
Like so many shows during lockdown, new audiences have discovered the superb police drama and the BBC has grown the show's fanbase by airing Season 2 recently on TV.
With the show becoming even more popular, Season 7 is looking even more likely.
Despite production on the new episodes being halted due to the pandemic, there was some good news after the BBC announced that Season 6 will be comprised of seven episodes, one more than usual.
As for the plot of Season 6, Kelly Macdonald is a new arrival on the scene with the talented actress playing Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson, the senior investigating officer on an unsolved murder case whose unconventional conduct attracts the attention of AC-12.
Series regulars Martin Compston, Adrian Dunbar and Vicky McClure will all return, alongside newcomers Shalom Brune-Franklin, Perry Fitzpatrick, Andi Osho and Prasanna Puwanarajah.
