Line of Duty star Ace Bhatti appeared on BBC One's Morning Live this morning, and naturally it didn't take long for Jed Mercurio's police corruption drama to come up as a topic of conversation.

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Bhatti, who plays PCC Rohan Sindwhani in Line of Duty, was on the show to promote his role in the second series of Baptiste but hosts Gethin Jones and Janette Manrara were quick to take the discussion in a different direction.

Asked by Manrara if he thought the hit drama would return for a seventh series, Bhatti didn't give too much away.

"We're not allowed to say – I'm not allowed to say," he said coyly. "I have no idea.

"No one knew who H was and none of those things," he added.

Bhatti went on to call the response to the show "fantastic" and told an anecdote which proved the devotion fans have to the show.

Recalling the time season five was airing on TV, he said: "I was in a bar and someone approached me and slipped £20 onto the bar and slid it across saying, 'Are you H?' I mean, I was just having a drink and I said, 'No my name's Ace, what's going on?!'"

When Jones mentioned that he'd spent a lot of time hating Bhatti's character on the show, he added, "It's Jed's writing; it's a nuanced character. I think it helped that the actors didn't know who H was. We didn't know, you don't know who's going to die, you don't know who's going to live and that's sort of like real life in a way.

"So it sort of helped not knowing so you don't play anything, you just play what's on the page."

The sixth season of Line of Duty finally wrapped up the longstanding mystery as to the identity of The Fourth Man, or H, and has led many fans to believe that the show might be done for good.

But there has been no confirmation that the series has run its course, and most of the show's stars have gone on record to say they'd love to return.

Earlier this year, Adrian Dunbar told Tom Allen on the BAFTA TV red carpet that “there may be a way to go” with the Fourth Man storyline, while Martin Compston told ES Magazine, "The idea that I would never work with all the guys again together would be heartbreaking."

Mercurio himself was cautious when discussing the future of his hit drama before the sixth season, telling Radio Times,“We’re in a situation where it’s not entirely clear that there will be a seventh series.

“We would hope there could be but we’re having to do our planning coming out of COVID, and a whole bunch of other things, around the idea that these things aren’t guaranteed at all now."

He added, “A lot of it depends on the key creatives – that’s me and the main actors – finding new stories to tell within that universe."

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Line of Duty is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Take a look at more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.

Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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