'Line Of Duty' Star Lennie James Reveals There Was A Plan To Bring His Character Back From The Dead

Lennie James - who played DCI Tony Gates in BBC show Line Of Duty - says there was once a plan to bring his character back from the dead.

Tony was killed off at the end of Season 1 when he took his own life by stepping into the path of a lorry - but Lennie says writer Jed Mercurio had planned to resurrect the cop - and even wrote the scene.

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Speaking to Radio Times, Lennie explained: "I don't know what Jed was thinking - and I slightly revealed a little bit too much of myself when I showed him how excited I was at the possibility of Gates coming back to Line Of Duty.

"I was excited because it would have been fun to hang out with my mates again - Martin [Compston], Adrian [Dunbar], Vicky [McClure] - they've become friends for life."

Lennie explained how the plan lasted just a day, revealing Jed had visited him on the set of his Sky drama, Critical, and said he'd written a scene where Tony "comes back".

BBC)

"I was like, 'fantastic, excellent' and went around and told everybody. Then he came back in the next day, and I was like, 'so what's the details, when can I see it?' and he was like, 'I've scrapped it, it's a stupid idea'. He was absolutely right, it was a stupid idea but if anyone could pull it off it would probably be him," continued Lennie.

The actor also added that when he signed up for the character of Tony, he knew it wouldn't go beyond the first season. He was also under contract with HBO at the time, so it's a good job the idea was scrapped tbf.

Not gonna' lie, we would have loved to have seen how that one played out!

In exciting Line Of Duty news, earlier this month Martin Compston (who plays DC Steve Arnott in the drama) revealed the team are aiming for Season 6 to be finished by Christmas.

You can watch the clip here:

While Martin didn't want to give a definite date due to the ever-changing situation, he told The One Show hosts Alex Jones and Chris Ramsay: "We've got a definite date that we're working towards but there's no point announcing it because the situation's so fluid, and it can change daily, so hopefully, we can get it done before Christmas."

We can't wait to see our favourite AC-12 trio; Adrian Dunbar (Supt Ted Hastings), Vicky McClure (DI Kate Fleming), and Martin Compston (DS Steve Arnott) return to the fold.

Let's face it, it'll defo be worth the wait...

Topics: BBC, TV News, TV Entertainment, Line of Duty

Lucy Devine

Lucy is a journalist working for Tyla. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, she has worked in both print and online and is particularly interested in fashion, food, health and women's issues. Northerner, coffee addict, says hun a lot. Get in touch at [email protected].

@lucedevine