Adrian Dunbar, best known for his role as Ted Hastings on Line of Duty, is about to play another detective in ITV drama Ridley, and he’s now weighed in on comparisons between the two.
Dunbar spoke about his new role with RadioTimes.com and other press, and when asked whether he was personally more similar to Hastings or Ridley, gave us an insight into the differences between the two characters.
He said: “I suppose I’m getting to play a lot more of me in Ridley because he’s out of the office. Ted, most of the time you saw him within a very tight world of the office and of policing.
“You very rarely saw him outside or saw his backstory at work, whereas Ridley has got a lot of introspection and reflection. It’s somebody dealing with a tragedy towards the end of the life and so therefore, I think probably I’m having to bring a bit more of myself to those moments of emotion that the role requires.”
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Dunbar was also asked whether he had any pause before taking the role, given that he’s known for playing another police officer, and admitted that he would have if he hadn’t been so close with the show’s producer.
He said: “I would have paused hugely, but the circumstances were quite good. For example, Jonathan Fisher, who’s the producer, I’d already done a series with him in Ireland called Blood and it was very successful for Channel 5. And we worked very closely on that, on the script, and so forth.
“So therefore, I knew that I wasn’t blindly going into something, that I would have quite a lot of input into what the character was like, what his likes and dislikes were. And I was able to push the piece towards something that I was very comfortable in, given that I felt that he had a lot of unique qualities, and qualities that were different to Ted, to that type of policeman.”
Starring alongside Dunbar in the new ITV drama are Bronagh Waugh, Terence Maynard and George Bukhari, with the season running for four episodes.
Ridley will air from Sunday 28th August at 8pm on ITV. For more, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Drama hub.
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