Warning! This article contains major spoilers for the first series of Line Of Duty.
Line Of Duty star Lennie James has revealed how there was once a plan to bring his character DCI Tony Gates back from the dead.
The officer, who was the subject of AC-12′s first investigation, was killed off in the season one finale when he took his own life by stepping in front of a moving lorry.
While Gates’ death was significant in earning the series its name, it almost wasn’t the end of the line for him.
Speaking to Radio Times following a repeat of the episode airing on Monday night, Lennie told of how creator and writer Jed Mercurio had planned to bring his character back – before quickly scrapping the idea.
He said: “I don’t know what Jed was thinking – and I slightly revealed a little bit too much of myself when I showed him how excited I was at the possibility of Gates coming back to Line Of Duty.
“I was excited because it would have been fun to hang out with my mates again – Martin [Compston], Adrian [Dunbar], Vicky [McClure] – they’ve become friends for life.”
Lennie revealed Jed’s idea lasted “literally a day” after he’d visited the actor on the set of Sky medical drama Critical, which he was filming at the time.
He continued: “Jed came in and said, ‘I’ve written a scene where Gates appears, comes back’ and I was like, ‘fantastic, excellent’ and went around and told everybody. Then he came back in the next day, and I was like, ‘so what’s the details, when can I see it?’ and he was like, ‘I’ve scrapped it, it’s a stupid idea’.
“He was absolutely right, it was a stupid idea,” Lennie agreed, “but if anyone could pull it off it would probably be him.”
Lennie confirmed that Gates is “well and truly mashed” after being struck by the lorry, adding that the copper was “one of my favourite characters that I’ve played”.
He added: “And again, I knew what I was signing up for when I went in, I knew that Gates wasn’t going to survive beyond the first series.”
The first series has found a new audience after airing on BBC One for the first time over the last few weeks.
Line Of Duty originally began on BBC Two before it was promoted to the main channel for its fourth series in 2017.
BBC bosses began repeats after production on the sixth series was shut down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jed Mercurio recently suggested filming is due to start again imminently, but it is highly unlikely fans will get a new series before the end of the year, as had originally been planned.
All five series of Line Of Duty are currently available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Netflix.