LINE of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar has promised fans a string of new catchphrases from Supt Ted Hastings when the hit police show returns.
His character’s “Now we’re sucking diesel” and “Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey” are among past classics.
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But Adrian, 68, says he has some fresh belters lined up for series seven, which finished filming in the summer and is due to screen next year.
He said: “I’ve got a couple coming along this time in this series.
“I say something like, ‘Come on, guys, don’t stall the digger’. ‘Don’t stall the digger’ is going to be my new one.”
The unique sayings have proved popular with fans in the past, featuring on mugs and keyrings.
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Confident of his “digger” quote being a hit as well, Adrian added: “There’ll be a mug for that, too.”
Adrian, who has been in the BBC series on police corruption-busting AC-12 since it began in 2012, says he credits a lot of the ideas for his character’s sayings to phrases he picked up as a child in Northern Ireland.
He told the BBC Red Lines podcast: “‘Mother of God’ was something my father used to say all the time.
“So I kind of stuck that in a couple of times and it worked.”
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TOP TEN TED-ISMS
“There’s only one thing I’m interested in, and that is catching bent coppers.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey!”
“Mother of God!”
“Now we’re sucking diesel.”
“The name’s Hastings, like the battle.”
“My officers conduct themselves to the letter of the law, sir. The letter!”
“Look we’ve been round the houses, Steve, round the houses and down the bloody drains.”
“I didn’t float up the Lagan in a bubble.”
“None of my people would plant evidence, they know I would throw the book at them — followed by the bookshelf.”
“For years, the security in this department has been watertight… then you come along, suddenly we’re leaking like a colander.”