Line Of Duty: The unmissable BBC crime drama
As the BBC confirms the team of AC-12 will be back on our screens in 2021, we look back at the past five series and consider why it’s not too late to sink your teeth into this compelling drama.
Creator Jed Mercurio (Bodyguard) took to Twitter recently to confirm that filming on series six had been completed. According to the Radio Times, it is due to air before the end of March 2021.
With the countdown now on till we return to Line of Duty, now is the time to catch up on this thrilling TV show (if it passed you by before).
The focus of the show is simple enough: anti-corruption officers investigate the rest of the police force to uncover “bent coppers” of which there are plenty. AC-12 is led by Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) who works with Detective Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) and Detective Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure).
Each series introduces a new main case involving the investigation of a corrupt officer. So far we have seen: dodgy D.C.I. Tony Gates (Lennie James); compelling D.I. Lindsay Denton (Keeley Hawes); revenge seeking Sergeant Daniel Waldron (Daniel Mays); composed D.C.I. Roseanne Huntley (Thandie Newton); and possible undercover gang member John Corbett (Stephen Graham).
Jed Mercurio’s writing is brilliantly executed in a way that makes you feel compassion for the corrupt officers in certain scenes, whilst in others they’re depicted as the “bad guy”.
The opening scene in every series starts with a bang that draws you in and immediately gets you speculating about what’s to come. In the first five minutes of the pilot episode, we see the murder of an innocent civilian after an anti-terrorism mission overseen by Steve Arnott fails. Subsequently, Arnott transfers to AC-12.
Each series is packed with twists that leave you second guessing the plot, and by season five it seems that almost every police officer bar Detective Arnott and Fleming could be corrupt.
Line of Duty is an action-packed, suspense driven series that will keep you glued to your screen. Mercurio “drip feeds” us clues throughout but leaves much to be uncovered — such as the mysterious ‘H’ whose identity so far remains unknown.
Line of Duty Series 1–5 is available on BBC iPlayer here.
