Line Of Duty’s biggest fans are in the police force, says Adrian Dunbar

Adrian Dunbar has revealed that some of Line Of Duty’s biggest fans are in the police force – and that he has been heckled by officers in the street.

The actor plays Superintendent Ted Hastings in the BBC One police procedural drama, which returns on Sunday for a fifth series.

Dunbar, 60, said he had found officers enjoyed the show’s rigorous, and realistic, portrayal of how the police collect evidence.

He told the Jonathan Ross Show: “The police really do like the show, I think.

“They like the fact that it’s truly procedural, you see a lot of people on computers trawling through photographs, looking for clues and so forth.”

Recalling a recent incident which saw him approached by officers in London, he added: “When they see you on the street, I was at the bottom of Highgate West Hill the other day and the police came down the hill with blue lights and screeched to a halt and went, ‘Oi, Line Of Duty!’”

Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio’s series follows the manhunt for a corrupt senior police officer, known as H, at the heart of a police force.

Vicky McClure, who plays DS Kate Fleming, added that the success of the show could also be attributed to its dramatic action sequences.

The 35-year-old said: “It’s drama. As much as the police love it because of the procedures and the jargon, we do it as convincingly as we can and then people get thrown out of windows and all the crazy stuff starts to kick off.”