Warning: Contains spoilers

Line Of Duty star Adrian Dunbar has revealed that he would have “real difficulty accepting” his character Superintendent Ted Hastings turning out to be the mystery organised crime boss ‘H’. 

The fifth series of the hit BBC cop show saw AC-12 hunting for a top police officer who was heading up the OCG’s operations, with Hastings falling under suspicion. 

After the finale revealed that dastardly legal counsel Gill Biggeloe was actually framing him, Adrian has said he felt relief that Hastings didn’t have to go in a direction he didn’t agree with. 

Speaking on Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail podcast, Adrian said: “It was a relief for me, as I spent all this time playing this character and I always thought Ted had a sense of duty and a moral core. 

“And to have found out I was this arch villain… I would have been in real difficulty accepting that.

“Jed [Mercurio, the show’s writer and creator] is aware of our audience and they know Ted has a sense of moral fortitude. I am glad he came out of it with flying colours.”

He added: “The police recognise me and they know there is a lot of slog in police work. We do show that it takes a long time for police to get to the answers.”

In the series five finale, a closer examination of DI Matthew Cottan’s dying declaration revealed that ‘H’ was actually a clue, rather than a person, indicating there are four high ranking officers in league with organised crime.

So far, Cottan, ACC Derek Hilton, Biggeloe have already been unmasked, with another still at large.

However, some viewers of the current series believe they spotted a clue about their identity in the most recent episode. 

Line Of Duty continues on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One. The How To Fail podcast is available to stream now.