Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio says it’s ‘too soon’ to decide if there will be more episodes after series 6 finale

Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio has discussed the prospect of the BBC crime drama continuing after the series six finale, stating that it is ‘too soon’ to give a definitive answer.

When the final episode of Line of Duty’s sixth series aired earlier this month, a record 12.8 million viewers tuned in to watch as Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle) was finally revealed to be the corrupt police officer known as ‘H’, or ‘The Fourth Man’.

While some viewers were left feeling underwhelmed by the big reveal, many fans are hoping Line of Duty will continue, crossing their fingers that Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) will return to root out more bent coppers hiding in the shadows.

In a new interview, Jed – who also created BBC show Bodyguard – was asked if series six of Line of Duty could be considered ‘a finale, or a clearing-out of the past’ before embarking on a new story.

Jed delivered a vague but frank response, telling Den of Geek: ‘I’d say it’s too soon. It’s too soon to draw that conclusion. It could be either of those, or it could be something different.’

Nonetheless, the TV writer added that there could be potential to explore Chief Constable Phillip Osborne (Owen Teale) further.

‘I think that if there is more Line of Duty then clearly there’s potential there,’ he said in reference to the shady character.

‘He’s someone who retains high office who is an outright liar and has been involved in corruption in the past in terms of the Karim Ali case and the Lawrence Christopher case.’

Jed said that ‘clearly there would be potential there if we wanted to explore it’.

However, he also noted that it’s ‘too early to say whether we ever would’.

During the interview, Jed also spoke about how TV writing has changed over the years, as he’s able to put more detail into shows as viewers are able to go back and rewatch episodes.

He said that while ‘in the past, people just had one opportunity to watch and writers like me were often discouraged from putting too much detail in because we were warned that the audience would miss it all’, nowadays, ‘the audience has the opportunity to go back – if they care, and I’m not saying that they should’.

Line of Duty is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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