Line of Duty's Martin Compston calls season 7 "brutal" as he addresses show's future

Line of Duty star Martin Compston has said the upcoming season was the "hardest one" for the cast to film. The hugely popular crime drama is expected to return to the BBC in 2027, six years after its last outing.

Speaking on The One Show today, Compston credited his bond with his co-stars Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar with helping him through the "brutal" shoot.

"We're very supportive," he said. "Especially this series, particularly, it's definitely the hardest one we've had to shoot. It was a pretty brutal shoot.

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"But I think it's because what we're trying to achieve is really ambitious. Just the sheer amount of interview scenes in this one is something we have never done, so just as a mental test, and really having to rely on each-other when one of us is having a down day... It's a really good little support network."

Addressing the future of the show beyond this next run, he continued: "I don't know if it is the end of Line of Duty, that would be for Jed Mercurio [writer] to say, but it is the end of the story arc.

"Everything that has been building since series one, everything is coming to a head. And it is pretty explosive."

The star also explained that the cast knew from the beginning of filming that the run was shaping up well — something that's not always the case on TV series.

Related: When is BBC's Line of Duty season 7 coming out? Here's everything we know

"Sometimes there is a bad habit with TV series that you get the first few scripts and you go, 'This is great', and you start filming and they haven't written the ending," he said. "And you read the ending and you go, 'oh, no!'

"This was fully formed. At the read-through we had the first five episodes, so we knew exactly what Jed wanted to do with it. I think it will hopefully be like everything the fans wanted."

Laura Aikman, who'll be seen as DC Paula Beckman, recently appeared to let slip in a podcast interview that the drama will return in the New Year.

"Yes, I'm in Line of Duty. It's coming out in January," she said on Walking the Dog. She later clarified: "I think January. I think January."

Line of Duty seasons 1-6 are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

The One Show airs weeknights at 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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Shaun is an Evening News Editor at Digital Spy, with over a decade of experience reporting on all things pop culture. He has written for outlets including Metro, Attitude, Huffington Post, The Mirror, Yahoo!, Pink News and Express Online, specialising in TV, movies, soaps, music and LGBTQ+ issues. He is also a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning scriptwriter, having written episodes of the soap Hollyoaks, the official Steps musical Here & Now and multiple Offie Award-nominated plays. He studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, and will happily talk at length about Desperate Housewives to anyone who'll listen.