Line of Duty fans have been given an early Christmas present, as they were treated with an unexpected cast reunion in the latest Waitrose advert.
Vicky McClure and Martin Compston joined forces once again to catch a mysterious culprit in the supermarket’s new Christmas campaign.
The two actors fronted the popular BBC police drama as hard-hitting anti-corruption officers DC Kate Fleming and DS Steve Arnott in all six series, from 2012 to 2021.
And they slipped straight back into their investigative ways in the festive ‘whodunnit’ inspired advert, surrounding the case of the missing dessert.
Waitrose launched their first Christmas advert earlier this week, starring Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen as a detective, alongside of host of stars including comedian Joe Wilkinson, Sex Education’s Rakhee Thakrar and Fleabag star Sian Clifford.
The mystery sees a family getting everything ready for Christmas Day, only to discover their special pudding as disappeared, leaving Matthew to try and figure out who is the thief.
While the second advert follows Vicky and Martin enjoying a cup of tea together, decked out in their festive jumpers, as Vicky says: ‘This is nice mate’ and Martin admits: ‘It has been too long.’
But the clip takes a sharp turn, as Martin catches sight of the Waitrose advert on the TV and utters famous Line of Duty lines as he instructs Vicky to ‘run that back’ and ‘pause’.
Firmly back in their detective roles, Vicky declares: ‘We’ve got ourselves a case’ and the duo immediately start compiling a list of suspects.
Martin zeroes in on the two children, as he accuses: ‘I’m telling you, they look like a couple of kids who have been caught robbing the fridge.’
But in a wink nudge moment for fans, Vicky replied: ‘Well if you are going to go down that line of inquiry you are going to be left holding a herring.’
Martin then turns his suspicions to family’s pet cat, causing Vicky to scoff, before spotting the grandmother making ‘a face like thunder’.
Martin announces it’s ‘time to kick this investigation into gear’ as Vicky grabs an evidence file and uses a famous line from fan-favourite character Superintendent Ted Hastings: ‘Now we’re cooking with gas.’
With the co-stars sharing a fist-bump, the advert closes out with the words: ‘To be continued…’ as Waitrose teased viewers that more would be coming.
And fans were delighted by advert, taking to the brand’s Instagram comments to praise the ‘masterpiece’ campaign and demand an appearance for Adrian Dunbar‘s Ted Hastings to complete the iconic trio.
They wrote: ‘Waitrose you just won Christmas; Jesus Mary Joseph and the wee donkey!!!! This is brilliant!!! Can’t wait for more!’
‘This is so iconic. Serving all the drama with the best detectives; If it’s not Ted Hastings who ate it I’m going to be disappointed!’
‘WHERE IS TED HASTINGS; This whole campaign is a masterpiece; SHUT UP! This has gone next level I am buzzing!!!!!’
‘Genius! I’m hooked; *commenting from the crypt as I died with joy; If we don’t get a reference to Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey I’m cancelling Christmas’.
‘Awww I miss these guys together on line of duty; Oh, you two will crack the case alright. It’s just a matter of time.’
Waitrose’s mystery will unravel over the next few weeks in the lead up to Christmas, before eventually revealing the pudding thief.
Speaking about the campaign, Nathan Ansell, Customer Director at Waitrose, said: ‘For the first time, we’re keeping Waitrose customers guessing with a ‘whodunnit festive crime drama featuring a stellar cast for this year’s Christmas ad.
‘Our Christmas Campaign is all about how Waitrose (Christmas) food is so good, you can’t wait to get your hands on it, so we’ve showcased the very best of our delicious range while also adding a touch of festive fun and sparkle. Was it Uncle Phil? Was it Fig the cat? You’ll have to wait and see!’
It marks the second unexpected Line of Duty reunion in recent weeks, after Vicky Martin and co-star Adrian filmed themselves taking a chaotic rickshaw ride around London at the end of October.
Sharing the hilarious clip to their Instagram accounts, it was captioned: ‘AC12 oot and aboot’.
In the video, the stars cruised around the capital in a neon pink rickshaw, with music including Shackles (Praise You) by Mary Mary and I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor blasting loudly on a speaker.
They couldn’t keep it together and erupted into fits of laughter as Martin pulled out his phone to film the hysterical scenes, shouting: ‘We’re back!’
Vicky, who was passionately singing and dancing along to the music, told the camera: ‘Hi everyone, we just needed a ride to a restaurant.’
‘I mean I’m trying to keep it together,’ added Adrian as the BBC stars asked viewers if they had any requests.
Martin went on to point out every police car they drove past, in reference to their iconic characters, as he shouted: ‘Oh the police!’
While the latest Line of Duty reunion comes just days after it was reported that Vicky, Martin and Adrian had joined the show’s creator Jed Mercurio last month for dinner, to thrash out details for a potential new series.
It has been reported that the group had previously struggled to commit to a new series because of their conflicting schedules.
According to The Sun the quartet often met up for dinner after the hit show’s underwhelming finale in 2021, but this is the first time they discussed reuniting for another season.
A source told the publication: ‘Jed is close with Vicky, Martin and Adrian and they often meet for dinner — this time it was different.
‘A topic of conversation was how they could align their schedules in 2025 to ensure Line of Duty 7 happens. The ambition is filming could start next year, with it on screens by early 2026.’
The exciting news for fans comes after Adrian previously revealed the entire cast would be up for another series if they were given the opportunity.
The actor, starred in the police drama for almost a decade until the show’s finale, which left fans disappointed with the revelation that hapless DCI Ian Buckells was the elusive criminal mastermind, H.
In May, Adrian told The Times: ‘We all want it to come back. It’s apposite that today should be [Vicky and Martin’s shared] birthdays because I really don’t want them getting any older.
‘I don’t want to get any older either because we don’t want to be coming back when we’re in a wheelchair. Ted Hastings with a Zimmer frame.’
The same month Vicky awkwardly dodged questioning about the possibility of another Line Of Duty series being made as she appeared on This Morning.
Hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley were quick to probe her about the speculation, with Ben asking: ‘There’s always going to be rumours and expectations, have you all agreed that you’d be ready and up for it when Jed gets himself together?’
But Vicky refused to confirm anything: ‘There will always be rumours. I mean look. We have all said we love the show and would love to go again obviously but there’s nothing to talk about so it’s disappointing in terms of there is no news!’
Cat then quipped: ‘Well is no news good news? Because it’s definitely not a no…’.
Vicky then started smiling and picked up a cushion to cover herself as she added: ‘I’m just going to put this over my face…’, as Ben and Cat burst into laughter.
