Furious Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio ‘snaps’ at reporter over question about show’s future

Jed Mercurio isn’t taking questions about Line Of Duty (Picture: Getty)

Line Of Duty’s Jed Mercurio has shut down questions about the future of his acclaimed BBC series, calling them ‘clickbait’.

The creator, who is behind the hit show which stars Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, and Adrian Dunbar, ‘snapped’ at a journalist who asked whether there will be more to come, given that the series six finale was the most-watched episode of a drama in 20 years.

‘It just feels like this is clickbait now,’ Jed told the i, reportedly yelling. ‘Feel free to generate some clickbait.’

Line Of Duty’s latest chapter aired earlier this year with the elusive H finally revealed to be Ian Buckells (played by Nigel Boyle) and AC-12 left hanging in the balance.

Viewers were a little disappointed by the identity of the Fourth Man as they had hoped for a huge villain expose in line with their own theories, with the likes of Piers Morgan branding it ‘underwhelming’.

Following the reaction, Jed shared research in which he claimed indicated that the divisive series finale wasn’t as bad as generally thought.

Whether Line Of Duty will be returning for a seventh series remains to be seen (Picture: BBC)

‘No-one disputes the Line of Duty finale divided social media opinion but the audience research so far shows a far less extreme picture,’ he penned on Twitter at the time.

‘We knew a “down” ending would rate less favourably with some viewers, however, all 7 episodes varied by under 10% on average viewer score.’

Addressing why he chose to share the data, Jed continued to the i: ‘You understand as a writer, that some people may like it, and some people may hate it, that just goes with the territory.

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‘For someone to say, “I hated the last episode of season six” is something that can’t be challenged, because that’s their personal view.

‘Within that is a certain assumption of the quantitative reaction. And if there’s data which seeks to analyse quantitatively what the reaction was, then I think it’s worth adding to the debate.’

Line Of Duty is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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