We chat to Line Of Duty’s Martin Compston. Plus, everything you need to know about the new series
Line Of Duty is one of BBC2’S biggest-ever drama hits. Its three series so far have depicted deep-dive investigations by fictional anti-police corruption unit AC-12, led by the heroic Superintendent Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) and his star detectives Fleming (Vicky Mcclure) and Arnott (Martin Compston). Now, for its new fourth season, the show is moving to a plum BBC1 Sunday night slot, and as creator Jed Mercurio explains, it’s a fresh start all round. “We felt that we’d reached the conclusion of a lot of serial story with the end of series three,” he says. “So we definitely approached this with the view of starting a new chapter.”
THE NEW(TON) STAR
Each series of LOD has a new protagonist who’s being investigated by AC-12, and this time it’s Thandie Newton’s Roz Huntley. Thandie admits she hadn’t watched the show prior to being cast, but says, “My agent told me, ‘If you ever work on British television, this is the best thing you can do’.” And Mercurio reveals that when he met her,
he immediately realised, “She’s lovely, enthusiastic and obviously not nuts.” As for her character, Thandie was thrilled to play an officer returning to work after time off to raise her kids. She says, “I think every woman recognises the frustrations. You have to be twice as good, and – if you’re black – you have to be twice as good on top of that. This woman is under pressure and the audience sees that.”
EPIC SCENES
Among the show’s many unique qualities are its intense and lengthy interrogation scenes, which can go on for 20 minutes or more. Vicky Mcclure dubs the show “Lines Of Duty”, in reference to the epic number of lines the cast have to memorise. “We’re working weeks ahead to get the dialogue into our heads,” she says. “And then we get into the room and the take goes on as long as the scene. But it’s a brilliant feeling.” And an absolutely brilliant show.