As fans continue to wait for news on a potential seventh season of Line of Duty, seasons 5 and 6 star Anna Maxwell Martin has called for Jed Mercurio to write a spin-off centred around her character, Patricia Carmichael.
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Martin was speaking as she promotes her new ITV series Until I Kill You, when she discussed the big spotlight on her Line of Duty role, and her persistence in trying to do new things.
She said: "Line of Duty has an exceptionally big audience, and all the gritty dramas I was doing when I was younger probably didn’t have a very big audience.
"Then the Motherland phenomenon grew during Covid, it wasn’t a massive show and then it became a really big thing in lockdown, which coincided with Line of Duty coming out, and people thought, 'How can she do different things? Weird!' Even since then I keep trying to do different things and always do a project that is a new challenge.
Anna Maxwell Martin as Carmichael in Line of Duty.
Martin continued: "People are obsessed with Line of Duty and I loved playing Pat, she was an amazing character. I’d play Pat for the rest of my life, in fact I wish Jed would do the spin-off: 'Pat' – not even Pat doing policing, just her doing other things like going to the shops!"
Earlier this year, Martin's Line of Duty co-star Martin Compston confirmed there are "no immediate plans" for a return to the show, saying: "I'm sorry. They're some of my closest friends, we all love Jed [Mercurio], and we'd all love to work together at some point, but there are no immediate plans.
"It's just getting us all together and stuff. We'd like to but, yeah, these things are a bit complicated. But there are no immediate plans."
Martin's new series Until I Kill You sees her starring opposite Shaun Evans, in a dramatisation of the true story of Delia Balmer, who survived a near-fatal relationship.
Previous seasons of Line of Duty are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer. Until I Kill You will air on ITV1 and ITVX from Sunday 3rd November to Wednesday 6th November at 9pm on ITV1.
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
