Warning! This article contains Line Of Duty spoilers of the highest order.
You might think the mystery of “H” and “the fourth man” was all wrapped up at the end of the most recent series of Line Of Duty, but Adrian Dunbar has hinted that might not necessarily be the case.
The actor, who plays Superintendent Hastings in the hit BBC cop drama, has said there “may be a way to go” with the storyline after all.
Adrian was chatting to Tom Allen on the red carpet of Sunday’s TV Baftas when he was asked if he was one of the five people who knew the outcome of the finale before filming.
“Absolutely we knew who H was,” he said.
“There may be a way to go with all that,” he cryptically added. “We don’t know yet, do we? There are rumours. Who knows?”
It seems some fans are convinced this is the case too, as Owen Teale – aka Chief Constable Philip Osborne – has revealed many people are convinced his character is actually high ranking officer in league with organised crime.
Speaking to Radio Times, he said: “I’m now defending myself in the shops, with people saying, ‘I know you’re H’, and I go, ‘No, no, no, wait a minute, we all know who H is now’.
“They go, ‘No, no, no, no, I don’t believe that for a second. There’s no way he would have had the power to do that. But your character was the original’.
“They remember it, right from the beginning. He was the guy who actually messed with Steve Arnott, he bullied him and that’s why he jumped into AC-12 and jumped out of firearms.”
A number of questions still remain about the Central Police boss, despite him not being unmasked as the so-called “fourth man”.
While DSU Ian Buckells was unveiled as the bent copper acting as the OCG’s fixer, Owen previously admitted he’s convinced there is more to be explored with Osborne.
Jed Mercurio also revealed there’s potential to explore Osborne, should Line Of Duty return for a seventh series.
Speaking to Den Of Geek, he said: ”[Osborne]’s someone who retains high office who is an outright liar and has been involved in corruption in the past in terms of the Karim Ali case and the Lawrence Christopher case.
“Clearly there would be potential there if we wanted to explore it, but it’s too early to say whether we ever would.”
The entire Line Of Duty boxset is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.