Martin Compston jokes that Line Of Duty season 6 could just feature Steve and Ted social distancing

Actor Martin Compston has joked on Twitter that Line Of Duty season 6 could just feature him and Adrian Dunbar’s character.

Martin retweeted a gag from a fan account which saw a picture of his character Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott and Adrian’s Superintendent Ted Hastings having an argument, stood on either side of a table.

The photo was captioned: ‘Season 6 should just be a whole season of Ted b*****king Steve, they’re always 2 metres apart everytime it happens anyway!’

In a nod to Superintendent Hastings, Martin, 36, added: ‘Social distancing to the letter of the law fella, the letter.’

The sixth series of the popular crime drama was put on hold, shortly after filming started on it, amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

With strict social distancing measures in place across the UK, with those from different households told to stay 2 metres apart from one another, the series was made impossible to film.

A day before, Martin revealed that Line Of Duty’s series six was scheduled to have wrapped filming on Friday.

The actor also shared some epic throwback snaps from the hit BBC police series, which were originally posted to the same fan page as the Arnott/Hastings gag.

Martin retweeted Best Of Line Of Duty’s tweet, and added, ‘Today was when we were scheduled to wrap shooting on series 6,’ followed by a tearful emoji.

In the epic throwback snaps, Martin was joined by co-stars Vicky McClure, who plays DI Kate Fleming, and Adrian.

Some of the photos also saw previous stars Neil Morrissey, who played Nigel Morton in series one, two and three, Lennie James, who played Tony Gates in series one, and Craig Parkinson, who played Matthew ‘Dot’ Cottan in series one, two and three.  

While a different snap showed Martin and Vicky pose behind-the-scenes as they pretended to film the show. 

In May it was claimed that the BBC police drama and Peaky Blinders will be returning to filming as long as cast members adhere to social distancing regulations.

Cast and crew of the two shows will have to ‘maintain a two-metre distance from others, and wash their hands regularly’, reports The Sun.   

A BBC spokesperson said at the time: ‘In light of the spread of Covid-19, after much consideration, the producers Caryn Mandabach Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions of Peaky Blinders Series 6 have postponed filming.

‘World Productions on Line of Duty Series 6 have suspended filming, both in consultation with and supported by the BBC.

‘We will continue to review all productions on a case-by-case basis and will continue to follow the latest news and advice from the Foreign Office, World Health Organisation and Public Health England.’ 

Earlier this week, Vicky revealed she has had ‘no word’ on when season six of Line Of Duty will be able to resume filming.

Speaking via FaceTime on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X on Thursday, the actress, 37, said the cast had begun work on the forthcoming season of the police drama prior to the UK’s lockdown during the coronavirus crisis.

Of how far along they were in their shooting schedule, Vicky said: ‘We were about four weeks of a sixteen week shoot and you know when you’re just getting into the groove and you’re like “yeah”, and then, that was it.’ 

Chris then asked her when filming may resume, and she went on: ‘There is no word, I don’t know. 

‘You know, I’m hearing lots about certain productions – obviously the soaps are being quite vocal about… they’re going back I think next week – so you know, there’s movement. 

‘But the thing is Jed Mercurio – who writes [Line of Duty], produces and is our showrunner – he was a doctor before he was a writer, so he’s not going to cut any corners, do you know what I mean? 

‘We’re going to make sure that when we go back, it’s safe to do so, so when that day is, I don’t know.’