'Unforgotten' star Sanjeev Bhaskar gets jealous watching 'Line of Duty' because the characters have "flashier" cars and weapons.

Sanjeev Bhaskar

Sanjeev Bhaskar

The 57-year-old actor - who plays DI Sunny Khan on the ITV cold-case drama - admitted he is envious of the BBC police corruption show because of the differences in approach between the two programmes.

Appearing on the 'Obsessed With Line of Duty' podcast, he told former series star Craig Parkinson: "Having played a detective, I always watch 'Line of Duty' with some envy...

"You’ve got much nicer cars than we do, much flashier, you drive them quicker than we do. You are allowed to have guns, we are not. Your offices are really spick.

“The glass box thing is great for drama. To have that viewpoint outside the glass box is brilliant and we don’t. So there is a certain amount of envy.”

Despite the jealousy, the star has been gripped by the current sixth season and loves trying to solve the case.

He added: "You certainly sit there trying to put the clues together."

Meanwhile, a new 'Line of Duty' character and plot have accidentally been revealed ahead of time.

A trailer posted on BBC Maestro - an independent business selling online writing courses - is said to have mistakenly showed a major star's face in a database being searched by DI Steve Arnott (Martin Compston), as well as a short scene in which the character appears.

'Line of Duty' creator Jed Murcurio told The Sun newspaper: "The outstanding detective work of eagle-eyed Line of Duty fans has been awarded a glowing commendation from the gaffer himself, Supt Ted Hastings. Their call-up papers for AC-12 are in the post!”

Maestro - which operates under licence from BBC Studios and works closely with the Beeb's commercial branch - shares excerpts from the show after each episode, and this week showed a trailer for Sunday's episode (18.04.21).