Line of Duty set for 2026 return as Adrian Dunbar updates
Rumours believed that the sixth series would be the last for Line of Duty, but Dunbar has given fans a hopeful update on a new series that could see it return by 2026.
Line of Duty 'returning next year'
In an interview with The Times, Dunbar said that he is ready to return to filming and hopes the BBC will make an official announcement soon.
He shared: "We're really excited about getting our hands on a Line of Duty script, to see what happens to us. Jed [Mercurio] is writing. We've talked to the BBC.
"It is down to the BBC to make an announcement, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that next year we'll be working on a new series.
"No doubt Jed will think of some interesting twists and turns."
The final of the sixth series of Line of Duty was highly anticipated as audiences all awaited the reveal of the corrupt officer known as 'H'.
The reveal saw DCI Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle) to be 'H' and that he became corrupt for the money.
Fans were split by the ending of Line of Duty, as Dunbar admits that he knows it was a "frustrating" end.
He shared: "When you find out it is this idiot, Buckells, it is so frustrating.
"There is a scene where the three of us are told who it is, and we look at each other and go, 'What?'
"We asked Jed to write that scene because we realised how our audience would feel."
"But Jed's point was that police corruption can hang on one cop deciding to ignore one piece of information that comes across his desk."
According to The Sun, the next series of Line of Duty is expected to start filming next year.
Recommended Reading
As a source told the publication: "This is the news Line of Duty fans have been waiting for since the sixth season left them deflated when it aired back in 2021.
"The BBC almost immediately requested more episodes to continue the story, but the success of the show meant Vicky, Martin and Adrian were instantly snapped up for other projects."
"But after several meetings with Jed and the production team, they've finally managed to clear space in their calendars next year to commit to making the show."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
8 minutes ago
- BBC News
Monica Dolan among supporting cast confirmed for Smoggie Queens series 2, as Michelle Visage and Charlotte Riley return to the hit BBC Comedy
Filming has begun on the second series of the award-winning BBC sitcom, Smoggie Queens, which will be returning to iPlayer and BBC Three. The supporting cast has been revealed which sees returning characters from series 1 as well as some new faces. Joining the cast for series 2 is BAFTA and Olivier award winning actor Monica Dolan (Appropriate Adult, Sherwood, Mr Bates vs The Post Office) as well as Amalia Vitale (Big Mood) and Freya Parker (Lazy Susan). This new series promises to bring more slapstick and silly laughs, with some excellent one liners from Dickie (Dunning), and a copious amount of joy for viewers. Dickie, Mam (Mark Benton), Lucinda (Alexandra Mardell), Sal (Patsy Lowe) and Stewart (Elijah Young) are back in the Boro as our Smoggie Queens find a place of pride for themselves in their small corner of the UK. Also returning to the show, is Drag Race royalty Michelle Visage, and actors Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders), Bill Fellows (Ted Lasso), Michael Hodgson (Vera), Lauryn Redding (Standing At The Sky's Edge), Peter McPherson (In From the Side), Neil Grainger (Hebburn), Michael Mather (It's A Sin) and TV presenter Steph McGovern. Phil Dunning says: "I'm so happy to see so many of the Smoggie family returning for Series 2, and over the moon to welcome the incredibly talented newbies. Can't wait to make TV and eat parmos with all of them.' Showing what the North East is made of and the resilience of the queer community, the gang forge ahead with new relationships and rekindle some old ones, all while they cement those chosen family bonds. Expect more mad antics and chaotic energy as the Queens take you on (another) ride of your life! Produced by Hat Trick Productions, the series is written and created by Middlesbrough native, Phil Dunning. Dunning was nominated for three BAFTAs in 2025 including 'Male Performance in a Comedy Programme' for his portrayal of Dickie. Additionally, he was recognised in the 'Writer: Comedy' category and was nominated for 'Emerging Talent: Fiction' in the BAFTA TV Craft Awards. The first series won Best Comedy at the RTS North East Awards, whilst Dunning won Best Newcomer, and more recently the series won Best Comedy Programme at the Broadcast Digital Awards. Smoggie Queens (6 x 30) is a Hat Trick production (Derry Girls, Outnumbered, Have I Got News For You and Episodes) for BBC Three and iPlayer, and funding support by North East Screen Industries Partnership delivered by North East Screen with worldwide distribution by Hat Trick International. The series was commissioned by Jon Petrie, Director of BBC Comedy. The producer is Chris Jones (Smoggie Queens S1, Kate & Koji, Whistle Through The Shamrocks). The Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Gregor Sharp. Series 2 is directed by Tom Marshall (Ted Lasso, Famalam). Broadcast details will be announced in due course. Watch Smoggie Queens on BBC iPlayer and add to your Watchlist Read more: Smoggie Queens recommissioned for a second series on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer LW Follow for more
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Parenthood review – one of the crabs in David Attenborough's new naturefest is like a 1940s movie villain
There must be a rule printed on parchment somewhere at the BBC that says all big wildlife documentaries must feature a sweeping shot of the African savannah at the top of episode one. Wildebeest or buffalo must roam majestically across the grasslands in search of water, only for one of the herd to be brought down by a cunning lion or cheetah. The awe is bittersweet: sorry, big guy, but a cat's got to eat. This sappingly familiar narrative plays out in the opening instalment of Parenthood, a Sunday-evening naturefest narrated by David Attenborough, before we have blown the steam off our tea. It sets us up for a show that offers BBC One natural history in a cuter, less spectacular and groundbreaking mode than the channel's classic shows – but the suspicion that it may not have anything fresh to impart is soon dispelled. Our interest picks up as we leave Botswana – with its lionesses teaching cubs to hunt buffalo and then having to implement a shared-parenting protocol when one of the mums is gored to death in the melee – and dive into the ocean, to a reef off the Indonesian coast. A boxer crab sits on 1,000 eggs, keeping her strength up via the ingenious life hack of holding an anemone in each claw and sucking plankton off the tentacles. An ugly, crusty cuttlefish attacks, but anemones are weapons as well as tasty pom-poms, so the boxer crab survives. Then a jealous rival crab mother, rubbing her claws together in the background like a 1940s movie villain, attempts to take the anemones by force. Pincers furiously pince, but, like all the best matriarchs of large families, our pal with 1,000 children always has another clever trick. Next, we are off to wild Arizona, where it's dating season: a young male is looking for a good hole. He is a burrowing owl; any prospective mate will want him to have secured a home, which for this species is a burrow abandoned by another animal. When he has found a spot that isn't still occupied by the angry rodent who dug it, or already colonised by other owls, he and his new partner settle in and have chicks, which consigns them to a long spell of thankless hunting, feeding and saving the offspring from being eaten by roadrunners. Then the chicks grow up, glare at their parents contemptuously – although that could just be the default owl countenance – and leave the nest. What the ageing, knackered Mr and Mrs Burrowing-Owl do once they have fulfilled their nurturing duties and finally have time for themselves isn't specified, but even a weary owl divorce couldn't be as dispiriting as the fate of the African social spider in Namibia. She is the headline act of the episode, initially thanks to the creepy – even for spiders – way in which she and her sisters hunt. Finding prey that has become snagged in their giant Miss-Havisham's-hair mess of a nest involves a horrific game of grandma's footsteps, all of them moving together and then stopping dead, as one, so they can listen for tiny vibrations. But when her many kids grow up and Mum gets old, her own movements across the silky filaments become jerky and erratic. In spider language, this sends a clear message: eat me. Being devoured alive by ungrateful children is as bad as it gets. The galumphing cuteness of lowland gorillas in Gabon, where a silverback dad is eyed casually by his other half as she muses on whether to trade him in for someone younger and fitter, is benign in comparison, as is a tale of endangered iberian lynx that upturns the usual warnings about humankind's malign influence on the natural world. Mother and baby lynx live prosperously as a result of farming practices that have been recalibrated to benefit the wildlife. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Both sequences are merely pleasant diversions rather than spicily relatable parenting fables, the rhythm of which is also interrupted by a trip to a drying river in Tanzania, where an imminent lack of water is a problem for a hippo mum who is a better provider and protector when she is sploshing about. The trek into the dry wilderness for food looks as if it will develop into an allegory about the difficulty of performing crucial tasks with a toddler trailing behind, but then lions turn up, so it devolves into the old story of one of the pack losing their nerve and becoming a cat treat. If lions are to keep their place as the stars of nature documentaries, they need to come up with some new ideas. Parenthood, however, has just about enough of those to survive. Parenthood airs on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer
South Wales Guardian
13 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Fans slam Mitchell and Webb's 'dated' new Channel 4 show
The new series, titled Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping, will see the two comedians combine forces with an ensemble cast of next generation writers and performers, including Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Lara Ricote, Stevie Martin and Krystal Evans. In the teaser posted by David on social media, the clip shows a scene of airport security chaos, including Robert, who plays quite an unusual security staff member. Alongside the video, David wrote: ''Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping', a new sketch show featuring @arobertwebb, @5teviem, @kfRedhot, @lararicote, Krystal Evans and me, starts NEXT MONTH on @Channel4! Here's a little taster to get you in the holiday mood.' "Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping", a new sketch show featuring @arobertwebb, @5teviem, @kfRedhot, @lararicote, Krystal Evans and me, starts NEXT MONTH on @Channel4! Here's a little taster to get you in the holiday mood. But so far, it's received a mixed response from viewers and Mitchell and Webb's loyal audience, with many criticising it as 'a pretty unfunny sketch'. As someone wrote on the Reddit page r/MitchellAndWebb: 'Absolutely love these two but I hope the show is better than this sketch.' Another wrote: 'I hate to say it but I didn't even smirk. More than anything, it just felt very very dated. Hopefully it's a blip but it worries me if this is the clip they have chosen to preview the series.' This person put: 'Ngl that was a pretty unfunny sketch. I don't go travelling a lot so maybe I don't get it that much, but if that's the sketch they're leading with…yikes.' A fan also commented: 'I'll be fair and say I did laugh at a couple of jokes in it, but it also felt very dated in terms of subject matter. Not saying every sketch has to be cutting edge, but it's weird to promote the show with a sketch that's basically the same as one that plenty of online sketch comedians have done before.' Others stated they think this particular scene of the new show is 'a bit too Come Fly With Me'. One account said: 'This sketch was a bit too Come Fly With Me for my liking, but I'm going to reserve judgement until we get a full episode.' A user also agreed: 'Are they doing Come Fly with Me?' However, there was also a lot of praise for David and Robert's latest creation, as this viewer chimed in: 'I don't care if it's terrible. It's so nice to see these faces again.' Recommended reading: Hugely popular Gogglebox couple confirm they've been 'axed' from Channel 4 show Line of Duty to 'return next year' as star gives 'exciting' update to fans Netflix reveals 'first look' of new Pride and Prejudice series A second responded: 'Fair play to them trying to make sketch comedy in 2025. I'm looking forward to seeing what they've come up with though!' An eager fan said: 'Damn, I didn't know there was a new Mitchell and Webb series! Can't wait.' Meanwhile, this person joined in: 'It's nice to see sketch comedy returning!' Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping comes to Channel 4 in September.
