Adrian: It’s my Duty to ration Teddisms
Fans love star’s lines in cop series
FANS are counting down the days until Line of Duty returns but it’s not just the action, plot twists and tension they’re looking forward to.
In the unsettling world of the hit BBC police drama it is difficult to tell a good cop from a bad one.
But what the show’s millions of fans love most are the quirky catchphrases of Supt Ted Hastings.
The sayings of AC-12 anti-corruption unit boss, played by Adrian Dunbar, have become so popular that the star has had to ration them during series six, which starts on March 21.
The exasperated Northern Irish officer is regularly heard to exclaim: “Mother of God”. But among the favourite Teddisms are: “Now we’re sucking on diesel,” meaning we’re getting somewhere and “I didn’t float up the Lagan in a bubble,” meaning I’m not stupid.
Adrian, 62, who came up with the colourful diesel expression, said: “I just chuck those things in. We do Q&As in Belfast and Jed [Mercurio, show boss] asks people: ‘Is there anything you want Ted to say?’.
“There is a new one this year: ‘Houl yer whisht’ which means stay quiet.
“I have to rein Jed back sometimes and say ‘I can’t just be saying this. I’ll have to cut two or three out of this scene as there are just too many of them’. So I ration them a bit.
“There are drinking games where someone drinks a pint every time you say Mother of God. That’s great, isn’t it.
GRAFFITI TRIBUTE Vicky McClure next to Belfast mural
I would not do it any more but when I was 22 I loved it.”
“I have a mural in Belfast with ‘Floating up the Lagan in a bubble’ on it. You know you have made it when you have got a mural. It is always good when the quality is so good. Hopefully it will stay like that.”
Vicky McClure and Martin Compston will return with Adrian, alongside Shalom BruneFranklin, new to AC-12.
Kelly Macdonald plays a senior investigating officer on an unsolved murder case whose suspicious conduct attracts AC-12’s attention.
Adrian said the new series is up there with the best. He told the Oxford Union: “We keep raising the bar. It is down to
Jed, of course, and the writing. He has consistently upped his game.”
“If it was in America after series two it would have been handed over to a team of writers and we would have done 13 episodes a year and very quickly we would have run out of steam.
“But because we have had one writer who has decided to stay with it because he loves it and it is his baby, he has kept the standard up quite remarkably.”
He said he would like his friend Gary Oldman and Judi Dench to be guest stars in forthcoming series. He said: “That would be a laugh. There are so many actors like that we could get in.”
Adrian, born and bred in Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, began acting in 1980 and his breakout role came in 1991 when he starred in BAFTAnominated film, Hear My Song.
You know you have made it when you have got a mural
ADRIAN DUNBAR ON TRIBUTE TO HIS ROLE
EIGHT million viewers are hooked on BBC1’s explosive thriller Bloodlands, starring James Nesbitt, which has now put the conniving cop in the frame as prime suspect.
Produced by Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, the Belfast-set series has Nesbitt playing troubled Det Chief Insp Tom Brannick.
Brannick has been supposedly hunting for a killer codenamed Goliath, who murdered four people during the Troubles, including his wife.
But as the pacy drama has unfolded, it seems Brannick could be Goliath himself, having already killed a man.
As the clues stack up and the red herrings swim into view ahead of Sunday’s finale, here are the burning questions that have given us sleepless nights...
■ Bloodlands concludes Sunday, BBC1, 9pm.
sara.wallis@mirror.co.uk
SCIENTISTS have released sounds from another world.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has deployed its SuperCam instrument on Mars for the first time.
The high-intensity light probe can identify rocks at a distance, like NASA’s previous rover, Curiosity.
But Perseverance also has a microphone that allows us to actually hear the at work. The sound of the laser hitting rocks reveals details such as the hardness of the targets.
Naomi Murdoch, from the National Higher French Institute of Aeronautics and Space in Toulouse, France, said: “If we tap on a surface that is hard, we will not hear the same sound as when we fire on a surface that is soft.
“Take chalk and marble. These two materials have an identical chemical composition – calcium carbonate – but very different physical properties.”
Dr Murdoch played three different sounds recorded by the microphone.
One was of the general sound of Mars, the second was of wind gusts, and the third of pops from the laser.
Perseverance landed in Mars’ Jezero Crater on February 18 to search for evidence of past life.
The deep bowl is regarded as an excellaser lent location because it almost certainly held a lake billions of years ago – and where there has been water, perhaps there has also been life.
Perseverance has started driving north-east and will soon begin an experiment to fly a small helicopter called Ingenuity, when a suitable spot is located.
BRITS bosses have shelved plans to go gender-neutral and scrap Best Male and Best Female categories.
The gender-specific prizes came under review after Sam Smith, 28, twice nominated for British Male Solo Artist, chose to identify as non-binary.
But a source said: “For 2021, there are no changes to the gender categories.
“The BRITs are committed to evolving the show and it’s still something that’s very much under discussion. There’s no timeline in place, but there is still a possibility of change in later years.”
Former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan said female artists would lose recognition in a male-dominated industry in mixed-gender contests.
At last year’s BRITs, singer Mabel was the only female artist among 25 nominees in mixed-gender categories. The British Group nominees were all men, prompting winners Foals to say on stage: “Hopefully next year we’ll see some more women in this category.”
Only male performers were nominated for British Album of the Year as well.
Paloma Faith, who won British Female Solo Artist in 2015, highlighted the lack of female talent at the 2018 BRITs.
The Grammy Awards scrapped the distinction between male and female awards in 2012 – and have since taken flak for a lack of female representation.
The BRITs source added: “If you take away gendered awards you risk not giving a platform to female artists.
“Any change made to be more inclusive needs to be just that. If that change leads to less inclusion, or a less diverse shortlist, it risks being counter-productive.”
Yulia often called to ask about Nuar, even after the adoption I was surprised
ARTUAN BARDADIM KENNEL OWNER HOUSING YULIA’S DOG
NOVICHOK poisoning victim Yulia Skripal secretly called kennels in Russia regularly to check on the wellbeing of her dog.
And the Mirror can reveal that her beloved pet – called Nuar – has now been adopted after Yulia finally realised they would never be reunited.
Last week was the third anniversary of the Salisbury poisoning plot in which Yulia and her dad Sergei, a former spy, were the subject of an assassination attempt by Russian agents.
She called kennel owner Artuan Bardadim from untraceable numbers in the UK as she was recovering in hospital and at a secret safehouse.
He said: “Yulia often called and asked about Nuar and his health. I was always surprised as the media described her being in a ‘helpless condition’ in Britain, and she was calling me to ask how her dog was.
“In these moments she didn’t sound sick. I believe it’s not fake what happened to them – her and her father. But when she called – she sounded OK.
“But because of her circumstances, when she was unable to come and see the dog in person, to take care of him, she asked us to sort out his future.”
Yulia, 36, had left Nuar in kennels in Russia when she visited her 69-year-old dad who was living in the UK. But she was never to return to pick him up after they were left fighting for their lives when his front door handle in Salisbury was smeared with nerve agent novichok.
In the time since it is thought Yulia has not even been able to contact her grandmother and other relatives.
Three months after the attack, Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill at a flat and died.
It emerged that she had sprayed a discarded perfume bottle used to contain the agent.
Mr Bardadim, 52, owner of the Khors kennel 40 miles from Moscow said when the calls from Yulia started he was concerned he was being tricked. He said: “When she called, I was forced to ask her leading questions to understand if it really was Yulia Skripal who was calling me.
“First of all she called me from another number.
“Second, her voice slightly changed due to her illness. and I just wanted to make sure it was her – especially when she asked me to take some actions to look after the dog.”
He explained how the rewhoming of Nuar finally took place. He said: “It was Yulia’s wish to find a good family for him to provide a decent life.
“Yulia even called after the adoption to check on the dog.”
To add to the mystery he said: “The dog was under a different name in the kennel – he had a dual name. He got used to another one and was adopted under this second name, not Nuar.”