Bent coppers, be warned! Adrian says Line Of Duty is ‘not dead’
LINE of Duty is ‘definitely not dead’ according to lead actor Adrian Dunbar, who revealed that all the stars are keen to make a new series.
The Northern Irish actor shot to fame as Superintendent Ted Hastings in the gritty BBC police drama that ran for six series from 2012.
Dunbar said: ‘We would all admit that we really want to do Line Of Duty again. We all had such a laugh.’
Asked if it is ever going to happen, he said: ‘I hope so, is my answer. It’s definitely not dead. It’s not over. My feeling is something
‘We all really want to do it again’
is going to happen, but it’s going to take a bunch of people to get around the table. It’s not down to me or [fellow stars] Vicky McClure or Martin Compston. We want it to happen.’
The 65-year-old, from Enniskillen in Co. Fermanagh, is about to make his musical theatre debut as a leading man in a glamorous revamp of Cole Porter’s golden age classic, Kiss Me, Kate.
He revealed: ‘I’ve spent so many years doing heavy stuff, so this is just too good an opportunity to miss.’
Dunbar, who co-wrote and starred in the 1991 film Hear My
Song, is focused on getting ready to sing and dance at London’s Barbican Theatre this summer alongside Broadway star Stephanie J Block in a riotous tale of two former lovers who try to put on a production of Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew but end up going to war, like the characters in the play.
He said: ‘There are fabulous songs. The cast are wonderful, so I can only see this being a really joyous production.’
In Kiss Me, Kate, he and Stephanie J Block play Fred and Lilli, a divorced couple whose battles overshadow their performances as Petruchio and Kate.
Dunbar said: ‘Fred is a beleaguered theatre director-producer who’s chucked all his money at this last chance of a show.
‘Gangsters are after him for the cash, which raises the stakes. He’s asked his ex-missus to save the thing, but he’s screwing up all over the place.’
The musical was first produced on Broadway in 1948. But critics have suggested that Fred is too violent and misogynistic for modern times.
However, Dunbar said: ‘We’re making the show from the ground up. We’ve got a different slant on it. This is much more a battle of equals. She gives as good as she gets. Stephanie is bang up for that.’
One original scene which is definitely off the table sees Fred hauling Lilli over his knee and giving her a spanking in front of the audience.
Dunbar said: ‘I don’t think we’ll do the spanking. We’ll find a way a way around those things by just doing something else, but we’re not going to lose any of the fizz or the spice or the to-and-fro of it.
‘The sarcasm and the nastiness – all that’s going to be there. We just don’t have to do the stuff that crosses a line,’ he added.
AREVIEW is a wonderful holding exercise in politics. Reviews take time. Firstly, the terms of reference must be drawn up. Then the review itself starts, but can’t be rushed because of its importance. The report from the review once delivered requires time for reading.
Then it must be considered and possibly be brought to the attention of others – all of this delays the making of a decision, which means further delay before implementing that decision if that happens at all.
This might appear cynical or, to older readers, a typical Sir Humphrey plot from the classic TV show Yes Minister. But it came to mind this week when Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly announced there would be a review of the needs at University Hospital Limerick – scene of the death in December 2022 of 16-year-old Aoife Johnston.
Her inquest returned a verdict of medical misadventure. The teenage girl waited almost 14 hours in UHL on December 17, 2022, to receive antibiotics for meningitis and sepsis.
She had been lying on two chairs in a storeroom in the hours before her death.
The inquest result, and the frequent stories of overcrowding and dysfunction in the hospital, demand action.
Mr Donnelly has ordered a review of health services in the midwest region to determine whether a second emergency department (ED) is required.
Or, to be more accurate, he has said the terms of reference for the review, to be carried out by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), will be published after former chief justice Frank Clarke publishes his report into Aoife’s death.
Is it any coincidence that this announcement of a pending review came within weeks of the holding of an election for the mayor of Limerick?
The review is unnecessary, because the Department of Health and the HSE have all of the information they need.
In his statement this week Mr Donnelly explained why the emergency departments at Nenagh, Ennis and St John’s in Limerick were closed 15 years ago. He stated: ‘The aim was to minimise the risk of a patient presenting at the ED whose timecritical needs exceeded the capacity of the hospital, and specialities needed, to treat them. We also know that important services, including intensive care units, require a certain throughput
‘The aim was to minimise the risk to the patient’
so that clinicians can maintain their skills.
‘Since those clinical decisions were made, the population in the midwest has grown considerably. The population is also older than it is in most other regions. Older populations have a greater need for urgent and emergency care,’ the minister added.
He admitted trolley numbers at UHL are up 39% so far this year while they are reportedly falling elsewhere. Mr Donnelly said that significant changes are required to the way UHL is run and how patient flow is managed.
He referred to the recent report by HIQA which noted ‘evidence of improvements in operational efficiencies’ but said better operational grip was also needed.
Mr Donnelly was able to give