By Lauren Morris

Published: Wednesday, 06 April 2022 at 12:00 am


Line of Duty’s Nigel Boyle has revealed that he has big plans in mind for the return of Ian Buckells if the BBC drama returns for season 7.

The hugely popular detective drama aired its sixth run last summer, with Boyle’s character Buckells being revealed as the Fourth Man, aka H – the corrupt copper with links to an organised crime group.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview at the Radio Times Covers Party, Boyle said that the Line of Duty team have not yet decided whether to bring the show back for a seventh outing.

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Ian Buckells in Line of Duty
BBC

However, he added that he has ideas for a way his character Buckells can return if season 7 is green-lit, and he’s already pitched it to one of the show’s bosses.

Boyle explained: “I said, ‘What’s the official line?’ and [producer Simon Heath] said, ‘Well, there isn’t one.’

“So I said, ‘I’ll tell you the official line. Buckles is going to be involved, right? OK, AC12 are gonna get him in. He’s gonna get whacked. OCGs are gonna get exposed. We’re sorted.’ And he just laughed.”

Boyle isn’t the only Line of Duty star who is up for more of the detective drama – Adrian Dunbar previously told RadioTimes.com and other press: “We’ve got to do another series.

“We’ve got to get onto Jed and say, ‘Look, we’ve got to do one that’s not like when we were in lockdown. We’ve got to do one where we’re back on the ground, we’re out there, we’re in the city, we’re having fun’. You know, it’s a great city to have fun in, Belfast, so we really want to get back to doing that again.”

Read more: Martin Compston teases possible Line of Duty return: “We’ll figure it out”

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.

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