Martin Compston: Line of Duty 6 finale "might be the perfect ending"

30 April 2021, 13:31 | Updated: 30 April 2021, 13:36

Martin Compston in Line Of Duty — Martin Compston teases "perfect ending' of Line of Duty 6. Picture: Instagram/mrmartincompston/BBC One

By Radio X

The Scottish actor, who plays Steve Arnott in the hit BBC police drama, has hinted at what to expect from the series finale.

Martin Compston has teased the series six finale of Line of Duty this Sunday (2 May 2021) could be the "perfect ending" for the show.

The 36-year-old actor - who plays DI Steve Arnott - has hinted die-hard fans of the BBC police drama may finally find out who is the elusive 'H', the fourth man, and he admitted if the episode "goes down well" with viewers, it could be the ideal send off.

Speaking on the Shrine of Duty podcast, he revealed: "I wouldn't quite go the Jo Davidson no comment route - but what I will tell you is I think there's a lot of pay offs coming this Sunday.

"There's a lot of big answers and it's deserved, people have stuck with us for a long time, so there comes a point where the story arch comes to an end.

"It's different this year, because we have to look at it in terms of, do people want us back? 10 years in you start to think of legacy, and if it goes down that well it might be the perfect ending."

However, Martin hasn't ruled out a seventh series, but insisted creator Jed Mercurio will not write another season just "for the sake of doing it".

He said: "What I will say is we won't do one just for the sake of doing it. Jed will only do it if there's a story to be told.

"We don't know [if there will be another] - that's nothing new. 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."

Last week's penultimate episode of the series featured a 29-minute interrogation scene, and Martin admitted there were a few laughs when Adrian Dunbar, who plays Superintendent Ted Hastings, made some script slip ups.

He added: "Adrian had a bit of a brain freeze - but animal themed - and when he was on a rant at Kelly, he says a bunch of racist thugs, but it comes out as a slugs.

"There was a mountain of evidence, but he said there's a mountain of elephants coming at you. And we were just like, what is going on?

"One of them happened and everyone's averting their eyes and pinching their own legs under the table, trying not to laugh. The slugs one, everyone just lost it.

"That's the horrible thing about the giggles, once you start, there's no way back."