''Line of Duty'' is a British
police procedural
The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...
and
serial drama
In television and radio programming, a serial is a show that has a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode-by-episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the complete run of t ...
television programme created by
Jed Mercurio and produced by
World Productions
World Productions Limited is a British television production company, founded on 20 March 1990 by producer Tony Garnett, and owned by ITV plc following a takeover in 2017.
History
The company's first major series was the police drama '' Betwe ...
for the
British Broadcasting Corporation
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...
(BBC). It began broadcasting on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
on 26 June 2012. The programme performed well and was quickly commissioned for additional series that aired in 2014 and 2016.
After becoming the highest-rated series on BBC Two in 10 years, ''Line of Duty'' was promoted to
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
, beginning with the fourth series in 2017 and the fifth in 2019. It secured commissions for a sixth series, which concluded on 2 May 2021, after the programme had aired a total of 36 episodes.
The series stars
Martin Compston,
Vicky McClure, and
Adrian Dunbar, among others. It revolves around Anti-Corruption Unit 12 (AC-12), a team inside a fictional police force tasked with "policing the police". Mercurio originally pitched the series to BBC One in 2011 but was turned down and directed towards BBC Two. After the two networks were restructured, the programme was transferred to BBC One.
Mercurio has written the entirety of the series, directed some episodes, and served as
producer and
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
. Filming of the first series took place in
Birmingham, England, before moving to
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, for the remainder of the programme. Simon Heath, Stephen Wright, and Tommy Bulfin are additional executive producers of the show, which was also produced with
Northern Ireland Screen Not to be confused with Screen Ireland.
Northern Ireland Screen is the national screen agency for Northern Ireland. The agency's purpose is to promote the development of a sustainable film, animation and television production industry.About Us > ...
and
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...
.
''Line of Duty'' has secured an international
cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
despite complications with international distribution rights. The series has been praised by many critics, although it was criticised by some for its conclusion of a long story arc. It set viewership records and became the highest-rated drama in the
UK since 2002.
The programme has received
several accolades, including multiple nominations for
British Academy Television Awards
The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards, are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarded annually since 1955.
Background
The first-ever Awards, given in ...
(BAFTA TV). Following the sixth series, the future of the programme has remained uncertain.
Synopsis
''Line of Duty'' follows
DS Steve Arnott, a former counter-terrorism officer who is transferred to Anti-Corruption Unit 12 (AC-12) after refusing to agree to cover up an unlawful shooting by his own team. At AC-12 Arnott is partnered with
DC Kate Fleming, a highly-commended undercover officer with a keen investigative instinct. They work under the supervision of
Superintendent Ted Hastings, uncovering corruption within the fictional Central Police. Throughout the series, AC-12 investigates seemingly disparate cases involving apparently corrupt police officers such as
DCI Tony Gates (series one),
DI Lindsay Denton (series two), Sergeant Danny Waldron (series three), DCI Roseanne Huntley (series four), undercover officer DS John Corbett (series five), and DCI Joanne Davidson (series six), among others.
AC-12 realises the pervasive nature of corruption and the police's deep-rooted links to an organised crime group. A long-running
story arc
A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of a plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing narrative, storyline in episode, episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strip ...
revolves around discovering the identity of "H", a corrupt person or persons of senior rank within the police force who are instrumental in running organised crime.
Cast and characters
Main
Recurring
Episodes
Production
Development
Series creator and producer
Jed Mercurio stated that he wanted to create something different to other programmes, and viewed the series as a "revisionist commentary on 21st-century policing". The series is produced by
World Productions
World Productions Limited is a British television production company, founded on 20 March 1990 by producer Tony Garnett, and owned by ITV plc following a takeover in 2017.
History
The company's first major series was the police drama '' Betwe ...
. Mercurio originally pitched it to
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
, which turned him down, believing it to be too "problematic for a mainstream audience", and directed him toward
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
, which commissioned the series nine months later. Mercurio also served as the programme's showrunner. A
second series was commissioned by the BBC on 25 July 2012. Mercurio became an
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
from the second series onwards, alongside Simon Heath for World Productions and Stephen Wright for
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...
. Tommy Bulfin replaced Wright for the fifth and sixth series. A
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system
Places
* 3rd Street (di ...
and
fourth series were commissioned in April 2014, followed by a
fifth in May 2016. At the time of the fifth series renewal, it was announced that future editions of the programme, including the fourth, would move from BBC Two to BBC One. This decision came after the series's high viewing figures and a restructuring of the networks. Five days after broadcast transmission concluded on the fourth, ''Line of Duty'' was commissioned for a
sixth series. In 2020, a special mini-episode was produced in support of ''
Sport Relief
''Sport Relief'' was a wikt:biennial, biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002.
It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Dire ...
''. The special was promoted as a "deleted scene" from the fifth series and starred Compston, McClure, and Dunbar, along with
Jason Isaacs and
Lee Mack
Lee Gordon McKillop (born 4 August 1968), known by his stage name Lee Mack, is an English comedian and actor, famed for his quick wit. Mack’s better known work includes creating, writing and starring in sitcom ''Not Going Out'', and featuring ...
.
Writing
A long-running story arc is the unknown identity of "H", a suspected corrupt police officer believed to be the highest connection to the
organised crime
Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some ...
group. Despite not introducing this storyline until the end of the third series, Mercurio stated that he had crafted it from the beginning and purposefully gave multiple characters names beginning with "H" so he could remake portions of the story if needed. He added that this also allowed him to intentionally mislead viewers.
Mercurio wrote many characters to be morally grey so that they would feel more relatable.
He attributed this to his belief that the world is "more complicated" than
good versus evil
In philosophy, religion, and psychology, "good and evil" is a common dichotomy. In religions with Manichaean and Abrahamic influence, evil is perceived as the dualistic antagonistic opposite of good, in which good should prevail and evil sho ...
. Mercurio also frequently
kills off key characters to keep the audience engaged. Some of the storylines have been loosely based on true stories. The opening scene of the programme featured the shooting death of a man mistaken to be a suicide bomber; this was credited to the 2005 police
shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, in which a man was incorrectly believed to be part of
bombings in London. Additionally, the story surrounding the Sands View Boys' Home in the third series included references to the
Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal
In late 2012, it emerged that Jimmy Savile, a British media personality who had died the previous year, had sexually abused hundreds of people throughout his life, mostly children but some as old as 75, and mostly female. He had been well kn ...
. The BBC was initially uncomfortable at the mention of
Savile and wished to exclude it but was persuaded by Mercurio to keep it.
The series six murder of Gail Vella was based on the 2017 assassination of journalist
Daphne Caruana Galizia. This series also featured an 18-month time jump from the conclusion of the fifth. Many of the
colloquialism
Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...
s that Hastings uses were inspired by Mercurio's Italian father and Dunbar's Irish dad. Mercurio opted not to incorporate
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
into the programme as four episodes of the sixth series had already been filmed when
lockdown
A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...
,
face mask, and
social distancing
In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...
guidelines, were introduced and it would have been too expensive to re-film.
Casting
Leading the main cast across the six series are
Martin Compston and
Vicky McClure, who portrayed Steve Arnott and Kate Fleming, respectively, two officers in AC-12.
Adrian Dunbar also appeared in the
first series
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
in a supporting role as Ted Hastings and was promoted to the main cast beginning with the second series. Each series features an additional actor as part of the main cast who portrays a police officer who is being investigated by AC-12. These roles were performed by
Lennie James in the first series,
Keely Hawes in the second series,
Daniel Mays in the third series,
Thandie Newton in the fourth series,
Stephen Graham in the fifth series, and
Kelly Macdonald in the sixth and final series.
Craig Parkinson also held a supporting role in the first series and joined the main cast for the second and third.
Parkinson originally auditioned for the role of Arnott but ultimately portrayed Matthew Cottan. Mercurio also decided to bring Hawes back for the third series as a result of her character's positive reception and made changes to the script.
Mercurio killed off both Parkinson's and Hawes's characters at the conclusion of the third series.
Despite this, Parkinson filmed new footage for flashback scenes in the fourth and fifth series.
Jessica Raine and
Jason Watkins
Jason Peter Watkins (born 28 October 1962) is an English stage, film and television actor. He played the lead role in the two-part drama ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies'', for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Bes ...
each appeared briefly in the second and fourth series, respectively, and were both credited within the main cast.
Anna Maxwell Martin
Anna Maxwell Martin (born Anna Charlotte Martin; 10 May 1977), sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is an English actress who won two British Academy Television Awards, for her portrayals of Esther Summerson in the BBC adaptation of ''Ble ...
was also featured as part of the starring cast in the fifth and sixth series but only appeared in the latter portion of each series. ''Line of Duty'' features a large
supporting cast of
recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main f ...
s and
guest stars.
Production design
Peter Anderson designed ''Line of Duty''s opening title sequence.
From series two onwards, Maggie Donnelly worked as the costume designer.
She gave Hawes lower-end outfits to reflect "how far
entonhad sunk in her grief", but also included
power suits to show where "she would have been in her career if fate hadn't dealt her that hand".
Other outfits included pieces from high-end designers, such as
A.P.C.
''Atelier de Production et de Création'', or A.P.C.'','' is a Economy of France, French ready-to-wear luxury brand founded in 1987 by Jean Touitou in Paris.
History
In 1987, Jean Touitou created a clothing line which would later become the A.P ...
,
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...
, and
Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( ; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger (company), Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.
After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's P ...
for McClure,
Theory
A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
for Newton, and
ME+EM for both Macdonald and McClure.
Compston regularly wears
three-piece suits, and his character became notable for the
waistcoats
A waistcoat (British English, UK and English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a wikt:weskit#English, weskit) or vest (American English, US and Canadian English, Canada) is a sleeveless upper-body garm ...
. Compston attributed this idea to a friend's experience working in a
call centre
A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center ( American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone ...
.
In series six, the Hillside Lane police station was built inside a former school. Gillian Devenney was the series's production designer. She designed Davidson's apartment with "minimalist décor and cool tones" to illustrate it as a lonely place, while Buckells's office was expected to show his "shallowness and lack of commitment to his career". The older design of the police headquarters contrasted with the modern appearance of AC-12's offices.
The interrogation room was described as a glass box due to its large windows instead of walls. This room originally existed
on location but had to be replicated on a
sound stage
A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a large, soundproof structure, building or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or te ...
during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and was built with no roof to allow for ventilation.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
for the first series began in August 2011.
Five hour-long episodes were directed by
David Caffrey and
Douglas Mackinnon.
It was filmed over 11 weeks in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
and utilised two cameras. The setting was later changed to the
Midlands
The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...
on the advice of the BBC. For the second series, filming moved to
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
and began in mid-2013. The six episodes were split into two filming blocks, with Mackinnon returning to direct the first block of episodes and Daniel Nettheim directing the second. The headquarters of
Invest Northern Ireland
Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) is Northern Ireland's regional economic development agency. It is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for the Economy (DfE). According to DETI's website, it "supports business growth and ...
doubled as Anti-Corruption Unit 12's office building, while the exterior of
Belfast Central Library served as the police headquarters' facade.
Filming for the third series began in March 2015. Michael Kellior directed the first three episodes while
John Strickland directed the final three. Locations included
BT Riverside Tower,
McHugh's Bar, and
Belfast City Hall. Filming for the fourth series took place from 29 August to 16 December 2016.
Mercurio directed the first two episodes of the fourth series,
and Strickland returned to direct the final four. Up to 20 hours of footage can be taken to create just 20 minutes of episodic content for the series. The fifth series was directed by Strickland and
Sue Tully, with filming occurring between 3 September and 21 December 2018.
For the final series, Nettheim returned to direct alongside newcomers Gareth Bryn and Jennie Darnell. Filming began in February 2020 but was halted in March due to the coronavirus. It later resumed production in August and concluded on 23 November. Once filming recommenced, changes to scripts were made to allow for
social distancing
In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...
because physical intimacy between performers had to be limited.
Music
Carly Paradis was ''Line of Duty''s
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
for
incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...
. She credited "
Heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
" by
Emeli Sandé
Adele Emily Sandé ( ; previously Gouraguine; born 10 March 1987), known professionally as Emeli Sandé, is a British singer and songwriter. Born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England and raised in Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Sandé rose t ...
and the
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...
from ''
The X-Files
''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...
'' as inspirations for the theme music, stating that she "wanted to touch a little bit on the 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s, so that it sounds contemporary but still harks back to cop series from the past". The opening and closing themes are designed around a four-note
motif. Paradis also said she thought of the words "Line of Duty" when composing the theme.
Soundtrack
A
soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...
titled ''Line of Duty (Music from the Original Series)'' containing tracks from the first two series was released on 1 April 2014.
Future
Since 2021, there has been interest in producing a seventh series. Mercurio stated that he concluded many of the loose threads during the sixth series, as a seventh had not been commissioned. He also said the BBC was "very supportive" of the series and that "conversations have been very reassuring from the standpoint of not having to wrap things up".
Dunbar said in 2022 that he did not expect a full seventh series but anticipated the possibility of a three- to four- part miniseries or two 90-minute episodes. Compston, McClure, and Dunbar all expressed interest in returning if asked. Compston explained that there would only be a seventh series if Mercurio had a story to tell. Later reports suggested a three-episode series was set to air in 2023. In April 2024, Compston confirmed that there were no immediate plans for a seventh series. Series star
Christina Chong said in a February 2025 interview that she had been contacted about her availability regarding another series. Two months later, ''
The Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
'' reported that a seventh series of six episodes had been commissioned with recording set to begin in January 2026 and transmission expected later that year.
Release
Broadcast and streaming
The series was first broadcast on BBC Two beginning on 26 June 2012. Additional series followed in 2014 and 2016. It began airing on BBC One in 2017, with another series in 2019. The final series aired in 2021, concluding on 2 May 2021. The first series was also
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
on
BBC HD
BBC HD was a high-definition television channel owned by the BBC. The channel was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 25 March 2013. It broadcast only during ...
, while some series two episodes were simulcast on
BBC Two HD. In 2020, series one and two were re-broadcast on BBC One due to COVID-19 filming shutdowns delaying production of
series six. In the United Kingdom, the series streams on
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...
.
Content Media initially handled international distribution of ''Line of Duty''.
In the United States, the first four series were initially released on
Hulu
Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...
. They were also added to
Acorn TV by 2018. Kew Media Group acquired Content Media in 2017, effectively taking over distribution duties.
Acorn TV held exclusive distribution rights for the fifth series within the United States while continuing to share non-exclusive streaming rights to the first four. The first three series were broadcast on the American basic cable television network
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
in 2020. Following Kew Media Group's collapse in 2020, Quiver Entertainment purchased international distribution rights for the first five series, and
ITV Studios
ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...
acquired them for the sixth.
Streaming rights for the sixth and any future series were exclusively issued to
BritBox
BritBox is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Video on demand#Subscription models, video on demand Streaming television, streaming service founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, ITV which operates in eight countries across Australi ...
in the United States and Canada. In Canada and Australia, the series is available on
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
and was briefly removed following uncertainty about the streaming rights after the Kew Media Group collapse.
Home media
Acorn Media distributed home media releases for ''Line of Duty'' in the United Kingdom and the United States. The series five DVD set was mistakenly released a day early in some
Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...
stores, prior to the series five finale television broadcast. Series six was released on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
in the United Kingdom on 31 May 2021.
A Blu-ray box set of the complete programme was released on 12 July 2021.
Reception
Viewing figures
The programme opened to strong viewing figures, with the first series averaging 4.1 million viewers overnight. The second series dipped slightly to a 3.4 million average before rising to 5.1 million for its third. The third series also maintained a 19.3%
share. By the time the third series had concluded airing, ''Line of Duty'' was the highest-rated series to air on BBC Two since 2002. The fifth series was considered to be the "biggest show of 2019", drawing in 7.8 million in its premiere, up 2.8 million from the fourth. The sixth series averaged 9.9 million viewers in overnight data and maintained a 46.1% share. The finale peaked at 13.1 million with a 15.8% share in its final 15 minutes.
This made the programme the highest-rated drama since records began in 2002.
Critical response
The first three series are often considered by critics to have been significantly better than the last three. It is considered to have a large
cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
. A commonly cited strength of the programme is that along with its regular cast, each series revolves around a different guest lead. The programme has also been praised for its
interrogation
Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...
scenes. The segments, which have taken up as much as 46 minutes of an episode, are often credited with being the most intense moments of the series. The ending of a long-running story arc regarding the true identity of "H" was met with mixed reviews.
Awards and nominations
Over the course of the series, ''Line of Duty'' has won multiple awards and been nominated for several others. Most notably, the programme picked up nominations for several
BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
awards, such as "
Best Drama Series", at the
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
and
2018 award ceremonies. Additionally, cast members McClure, Dunbar, Hawes, Newton, Macdonald, Mays, and Bonnar have all been nominated for acting-related accolades. Three scenes on the programme, "Urgent Exit Required", "Huntley's Narrow Escape", and "John Corbett's Death", received consideration for "
Virgin TV's Must-See Moment". Composer Carly Paradis and director Andrew John McClelland have both been nominated for
BAFTA Craft awards for their work on the show. Actors Graham and Compston have won
Broadcasting Press Guild and
TV Choice Awards. Each individual series of the programme has been nominated for "Best Drama Series" at
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
-related awards programmes, four of which were won across three series. Mercurio has also received a number of nominations for his writing on the programme securing wins at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards and the American
Edgar Allan Poe Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...
s.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Line of Duty'' scripts at BBC TV Drama archive
{{Authority control
*
2010s British crime drama television series
2010s British police procedural television series
2010s British workplace drama television series
2012 British television series debuts
2020s British crime drama television series
2020s British police procedural television series
2020s British workplace drama television series
2021 British television series endings
BBC crime drama television shows
British detective television series
British English-language television shows
British thriller television series
Fiction about police corruption
Serial drama television series
Television productions postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Television series by ITV Studios
Television series by World Productions
Television shows filmed in England
Television shows filmed in Northern Ireland
Television shows set in England