Martin Compston would be "heartbroken" not to reunite the Line of Duty cast but says "everyone needs time away" from the show

Compston, who plays detective Steve Arnott in the beloved BBC series, says he has no idea whether or not AC-12 will reunite, but that he's holding out hope.

“The genuine answer is that we don’t know [if the series will return]," he told ES Magazine. “But that’s nothing new. Jed [Mercurio] always takes time away from it. I think what I would say, the two things I would say, is that the idea that I would never work with all the guys again together would be heartbreaking.

“But also with everything that’s just gone on this week, I think everybody, including the audience, needs a bit of time away from it. So we’ll see.”

Compston also defended the show's controversial ending, which finally revealed the identity of the elusive corrupt copper 'H', or The Fourth Man.

Almost 13 million fans tuned in to find out who 'H' was but, not all of them were happy with the finale.

A RadioTimes.com poll previously revealed that 83 per cent of Line of Duty viewers were unsatisfied by the series six finale after 16,700 voted.

“You’ve got to respect people have invested so much in this thing and everybody has a different version of their ending, but yes… it’s been a pretty wild few days," Compston said.

Speaking about the reveal of 'H', he continued: "I think he [show creator Jed Mercurio] felt it would have been a bit of a cop-out to have — and he’s right — some sort of cat-stroking mastermind and then a crazy gun shoot-out. I think he felt that would have been the easy option.”

Want more analysis of the finale? We have plenty - you can read our Line of Duty ending explainer, check out the Line of Duty unanswered questions left up in the air, or take a look at all of the Line of Duty red herrings that teased and deceived the finale outcome.

Line of Duty Series 1-6 is available on BBC iPlayer now. Check out the rest of our Drama coverage, or take a look at our TV Guide to find out what else is on.