Old but good
LINE OF DUTY (2012)
Like Bodyguard, Jed Mercurio’s Line of Duty has layers upon layers, with twists and viewers triple guessing and then double guessing characters’ motives and intentions. It was also one of the most popular series on UK TV, being voted one of the best BBC shows of all time. With four seasons to watch (it started in 2012), there’s plenty to be happy about after binging Bodyguard.
Be prepared to become obsessed with department AC-12, an anticorruption unit that polices the police force. Their mandate is to root out “bent coppers”, as said by the moral centre of the show and the head of the department, Superintendent Ted Hastings (“yes, like the battle”). Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) brings in DS Steve Arnott (Michael Compston) from counter-terrorism after a bungled raid nearly ruins the young cop’s career. Also new to the squad and an undercover specialist is DC Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure). They are told to investigate DCI Tony Gates (Lennie James), pictured, who has had a suspicious amount of successful arrests. Hastings thinks he is corrupt and wants Arnott and Fleming to prove that he is.
Like any showrunner, Mercurio has his favourite stars. Gina McKee is in both Bodyguard and Line of Duty. In Bodyguard she is the ambiguous Ann Sampson, chief of the police force and in Line of Duty she is property mogul Jackie Laverty, Tony Gate’s lover who becomes his Achilles heel. Mercurio was also responsible for Keeley Shaw’s breakthrough in the BBC world with her magnificent turn as DCI Lindsay Denton in the second and third season of Line of Duty ,a brilliant cop accused of being the point person in a number of police murders to kill an important witness. This starts a chain of cover-ups and police assassinations. The corruption of police is dense and goes all the way from the bottom to the top. Throughout the seasons, the viewer is left with some closure at the end of each, but the top guys are still out there and AC-12 still has a long way to go to uncover them all. Season five is being filmed at the moment, set to be released in 2019. Season six has already been commissioned. Yes! Bring on more “bent coppers”.