Ever since Line Of Duty wrapped up its sixth series, we’ve had our fingers crossed that an announcement about a seventh is not too far away – and it seems so has star Martin Compston. 

The DI Steve Arnott actor has admitted he would be “heartbroken” if the hit BBC cop show does not come back. 

In an interview with ES Magazine, Martin insisted that the cast genuinely “don’t know” if writer and creator Jed Mercurio will write another series, adding: “But that’s nothing new. Jed always takes time away from it.

“I think what I would say, the two things I would say, is that the idea that I would never work with all the guys again together would be heartbreaking.”

Addressing the mixed reception to the series six finale, he continued: “But also with everything that’s just gone on this week, I think everybody, including the audience, needs a bit of time away from it. So we’ll see.”

Martin also said he understands why the finale – which saw the much-discussed “H” unmasked – split opinion. 

“Obviously finales are always hard,” he said. “You’ve got to respect people have invested so much in this thing and everybody has a different version of their ending, but yes… it’s been a pretty wild few days.’”

Of the low-key last episode, he continued: “I think [Jed Mercurio] felt it would have been a bit of a cop-out to have — and he’s right — some sort of cat-stroking mastermind and then a crazy gun shoot-out. I think he felt that would have been the easy option.

“Plus, he says, he’s ’seen a lot of people reach out and say, ‘Look, after a second viewing and walking away from it, and coming back to it later, I really enjoyed it.’”

Despite discussion about the finale, it has become the UK’s most-watched episode of a drama series in the 21st century so far, after official ratings showed it had an audience of 15.24 million.

This is 80,000 higher than the previous record, which was set by an episode of Heartbeat on ITV in February 2000 with an audience of 15.16m.