Piers Morgan is after a role in Line Of Duty after the BBC drama’s showrunner jokingly endorsed his interview technique.
Jed Mercurio, who is behind the police series, shared a clip of Piers interrogating Care Minister Helen Whately on Good Morning Britain, joking that Adrian Dunbar’s character, Superintendent Ted Hastings, needs to channel the presenter.
“If Emily Maitlis was channelling Kate Fleming, then in #LineofDuty6 Ted Hastings needs to channel @piersmorgan,” Jed tweeted.
The tweet was liked by Vicky McClure, who plays Kate Fleming in the series, and it didn’t take Piers long to notice and to start a campaign for him to be cast.
Speaking on Thursday’s GMB, Piers said: “So, yesterday Jed Mercurio pops up on Twitter. He was watching our exchange with Helen Whately yesterday and he suddenly realised my interrogating skills reminded him of his own show.
“He wanted Detective Hasting to take on my style. I love that. And it was liked by Vicky McClure. I think there’s a bandwagon to get me into Line Of Duty. I am available.”
Piers has also urged viewers to back him after his fiery exchanges with Helen Whately sparked more than 2000 complaints in total to TV watchdog Ofcom.
On Wednesday’s edition of Good Morning Britain, Piers called out the Conservative MP after it was revealed the number of coronavirus tests given in the UK had decreased, and were well away from the target of 100,000 tests a day.
After insisting everyone was working as hard as possible to ensure there was adequate testing available, she called out Piers for talking over her.
“I’ve been quite straight with you and others I have spoken to that we know people are dying in care homes and we know more people than usual are dying in care homes,” she said. “The problem is, you just keep on interrupting me.”
Their latest clash came after Piers called out the MP for awkwardly laughing when discussing the reported figures of care home deaths that have gone unreported. The exchange led to 1910 complaints being filed about Piers to Ofcom.
Responding to the complaints on Wednesday, Piers tweeted: “Apparently nearly 2000 people have now complained to @Ofcom about me grilling Care minister Helen Whateley [sic] too ‘unfairly’ when she couldn’t answer even basic questions.
“If you think I should continue grilling ministers in the way I’ve been doing, please tell @OFCOM. Thanks.”
Some viewers have accused Piers of “bullying”, while others said the presenter was doing his job and holding the minister “to account”.
Ofcom said in a statement: “We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”