Line Of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar wants Gary Oldman and Judi Dench for next series of show – and backs Bodyguard crossover

LINE of Duty star Adrian Dunbar wants Gary Oldman and Dame Judi Dench to feature in the hit BBC series.

The Irish actor, who plays Superintendent Ted Hastings in the police corruption drama, also named X-Men co-stars Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewart as ideal recruits to join himself, Martin Compston and Vicky McClure in AC-12.

Adrian – who appeared alongside Oscar-winner Gary in Danny Boyle’s plays The Pope’s Wedding and Saved in 1984 – said: “I’d quite like to work with my old mate Gary Oldman again.

“Gary would be a really interesting person to bring in to Line of Duty. We worked together a lot when we were younger.

“I’d quite like to get somebody like Judi Dench in as a character. That would be a laugh. Or even Ian McKellen. What a fabulous actor Ian is.

“There’s so many like that we could get in. The crossovers would be amazing wouldn’t they? Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart as a double act in the middle of Line of Duty. That would be amazing.”

Adrian, 62, also threw his support behind a crossover series with Line of Duty writer Jed Mercurio’s other hit show Bodyguard.

The two dramas previously collided for a tongue-in-cheek Comic Relief sketch in 2019, which saw Hastings come face-to-face with Richard Madden’s Protection Officer David Budd.

Adrian told the Oxford Union: “Jed’s still big on Bodyguard. Vicky, Martin and I kind of go, ‘What are you talking about? Bodyguard’s not coming back, Jed.’

“Yeah, that would be good. It would be good to get Richard’s character back again. But he’s off to America now. We’ll not see Richard back for a while. But yeah, [that would be] interesting.”

Ahead of Line of Duty’s return to BBC One on Sunday, The Celeb Report revealed the existence of a secret trailer teasing explosive storylines coming up in series six.

Adrian previously warned fans that they would be shocked by the first episode of the new series, hinting: Things and people have been moved around so the first episode is going to be one of those ‘head- wrecks’ for the audience.”