Line of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar offers another season 7 update - and argues Ridley isn’t a “cosy crime” drama

It’s been three years since the last series of Ridley. What can we expect from this second run?

With a series like this, it kind of finds its feet the second time round, it starts to know more about what it is. Alex was two years on from his wife and child dying in the first series, and now it’s another two years on. We don’t lean so heavily into him being isolated and grieving – I think it’s important for the audience to see that people can move on from grief.

What makes Ridley different, do you think, from your average crime drama?

It sets up its own niche. It’s not cosy crime by any means, and yet it’s occupying that Sunday-night slot where you can’t be too visceral. So you have the serious police procedural that we devote time and thought to, and then there’s the family aspect. I was insistent that we needed somewhere else to go, and that’s the jazz club and the musical element.

As well as being an actor, you’re also a singer. So, was it your idea to have Ridley sing in each episode?

Yes, I was thinking back to cop shows that I enjoyed when I was growing up, like The Rockford Files, Columbo and Kojak where they all had these quirks that made you really interested in the central character and the mise-en-scène.

This is your first show as a lead. Is there more pressure being first on the call sheet, as opposed to being part of an ensemble, as Line of Duty?

There is extra pressure, yes. With Ridley, it’s no secret that I’m working on the scripts myself as they come in, and I do a lot of work tidying up and suggesting things. There is pressure in holding something together and there’s physical pressure too, because you’re in nearly every scene. So it’s physically demanding as well as creatively.

Talking of Line of Duty, are you still in regular contact with your co-stars, Martin Compston and Vicky McClure? Is the WhatsApp group still active?

Myself, Martin and Vicky talk all the time, but Jed [Mercurio, the series creator], not so much, because he’s working on a project in the US at the minute. So yeah, we’re very tight, and we’ll meet up and have a curry, then the internet goes mad if we’re all seen together.

What’s the latest news on a seventh series of Line of Duty? There were rumours last year that an official announcement was imminent, but we’ve heard nothing since…

There were signs that we were going to be doing something next year. We’re all waiting for the BBC to say, “Yeah, it’s happening”. An official confirmation is what we’re waiting on, but all the signs are very good. Jed hasn’t given us any updates – he’s beavering away, I suspect. He very rarely tells us anything – we’re going to have to get hold of him and find out what’s going on!

You guys must be as excited about reading the scripts as we are about watching it?

We’re desperately keen to hear what the story is. God knows what’s going to happen to any of us. If this is to be the last of it, then you suspect that something dramatic is coming. One of the shocking things that I realised after series two or three was the writer can just do away with you. Vicky usually gets the scripts first, and she’s a very quick reader, so she will start sending us cryptic messages that’ll really unnerve me and Martin. Like, “Oh my God, episode three – what happens to you!”

You guys have talked about wanting to do a project together away from Line of Duty. Do you have anything planned?

Sadly, nobody’s ever approached us. Maybe we should try and think of something ourselves. We could do a travel show, if we could manage to keep Martin in check…

What’s it like to find major success relatively late in your acting career? It must be satisfying to be able to have your pick of jobs now?

Even when the work wasn’t coming in, I’ve always turned my hand to something else – writing, directing, producing. But the landscape has changed, you’re absolutely right. For someone like me who devoured British television from the 1960s and 70s, to then

go and create this iconic character with the help of my good friend Jed, that’s the top of the tree for me. It provided me with the stuff I needed to go and do a series on my own.

If you’re a vintage TV aficianado, are there any series from the past you would have loved to have been a part of?

The Sweeney – that was great, wasn’t it? I love all that London-based gangster stuff. Those shows were the ones you really wanted to be in because you just had the feeling that everybody was having such a good time!

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Ridley season 2 premieres on Sunday 10th August at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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