Line of Duty's Martin Compston reveals filming has wrapped on "superb" season 6

Alongside the caption, he posted a screenshot of a longer statement explaining some of the protocols that had been put in place to ensure the season could be safely shot. He also paid tribute to the full cast and crew, and teased that the scripts for the new series were "superb".

The statement read, "Delighted we've finally wrapped series 6! Tip of the cap to the production team for putting the protocols in place to provide a safe working environment and to the phenomenal crew, having the discipline and determination to work with the new parameters to get us over the line.

"It's a different way of filming to get used to but we're lucky to get back doing a job we love. The scripts from Jed Mercurio superb as ever and we gave it everything we had so fingers crossed.

"For a lot of us the COVID bubble meant being apart from family for an extended period. I'm now looking forward to some quality time with mine, with that in mind heading offline for a bit. Stay safe troops!"

Jed Mercurio’s hit police drama had originally started shooting its sixth series back in February, but production was put on hold just a month later as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Buy the Line of Duty seasons 1-5 boxset now on Amazon

After a few months away, the shoot got back up and running again in early September – and Mercurio regularly provided his Twitter followers with some behind the scenes images from the set.

Last week, the BBC confirmed that AC-12 will be back on our screens in the early part of 2021. No exact date has been set, but it will certainly be before March, so we won't be waiting any more than four months to be reunited with Steve, Kate and Ted.

The new series stars Kelly Macdonald in the lead guest role, with the Trainspotting and Giri/Haji star set to feature as AC-12's “most enigmatic adversary” yet.

Her character is called DCI Joanne Davidson, and according to Mercurio she is "the Senior Investigating Officer on a high profile murder that remains unsolved over a year after the killing" with AC-12 getting involved "because there are question marks over her involvement in the investigation."

Mercurio has also gone on record to say that he hopes any changes made as a result of the pandemic will not be obvious to viewers, telling Lorraine Kelly, "We hope that these changes will be invisible to fans when they watch the series."

Line of Duty will return in early 2021. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide, or take a look at our new TV shows 2020 page to find out what’s airing this autumn and beyond. You can also buy the Line of Duty seasons 1-5 boxset now on Amazon.