Duty bound
Line Of Duty returns with an all-new scandal being investigated within the British police service.
Line Of Duty
Season 6 Tuesdays (from 20 September) SABC3 (*193) 22:00
Hard-working incorruptible Detective Inspector Steve Arnott (Martin Compston, Bram in drama series Our House) returns to our screens alongside Acting Detective Superintendent Joanne “Jo” Davidson (Kelly Macdonald, Margaret in period drama Boardwalk Empire) in season 6 of British cop drama series Line Of Duty. But there’s a problem that Steve soon uncovers. “Joanne is the person he and his team from AC-12 division have to investigate! She’s flown under the radar until now, but there’s something that clearly isn’t right,” says Kelly, whose character is secretly involved with murdering witnesses and tampering with police procedures and investigations.
TEAM LEADER
After receiving a tip-off, Joanne and her team head to apprehend a suspect in a murder case. But on the way to the scene, Joanne decides to ignore orders to stand down and she takes her team in for the kill – literally. “There are victims and not all of them were going to be taken into custody. That sets off alarm bells for some of her team, and it’s not long before a confidential informant comes forward with information that Jo isn’t as honest as she’s portraying herself to be,” explains Kelly. Jo deliberately overrode her superior’s orders for a specific reason and when Steve starts connecting the dots, he’s going to realise the extent of her corruption.
“He’s shocked. Steve has been working for AC-12 for years now and the more he digs, the more corruption he finds within the police. It’s appalling for him because these are the people who’ve sworn to uphold the law. They’ve promised to protect the public and what they’re doing is betraying that trust,” explains Martin, who adds that the writers spoke to real-life whistleblowers for their stories. “Everything that’s on our show has happened in the real world. This isn’t a work of fiction – there’s serious mismanagement and lying within the police department.”
EYE OF A STORM
It’s not just the suspect “murder” that worries Steve. Joanne is in control of Operation Lighthouse, a cop investigation into the murder of a journalist who was connected to a series of undercover investigations into police cover-ups. “It’s ironic that a case involving a cover-up is going to be the one that breaks Joanne and gets her caught,” says Martin, whose character has an insider on Joanne’s team. “He worked with Detective Inspector Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure, Mrs Jones in British teen spy thriller series Alex Rider) before and they’re on good terms. So when Steve discovers that Kate is part of Joanne’s crew, he zones in on her and tells her, ‘Either you’re with Joanne or you’re going in for me as an embedded undercover officer. The choice is yours,’” says Martin. And that’s where the action really picks up…