大象传媒

A table and four chairs sit in the middle of a room which looks like it might be inside any office building anywhere in the UK – yours, perhaps, or mine. On the table there is a tape recorder, and a few loose papers; to the left there’s an empty whiteboard. It all sounds more like the backdrop to a meeting about fire safety at work than the conditions for the most compelling drama of the last decade. But Line of Duty has always made its mark by subverting expectations.

Famous for its extended interview sequences – which turn a drab meeting room into a stage for almost Shakespearean high drama – its heart-racing thrills, and its shocking left turns, Line of Duty has remained one of the most exhilaratingly unpredictable shows on TV. But even AC-12 couldn’t avoid COVID-19, and after the end of season five in May 2019, viewers were forced to wait a little longer than usual for answers to their growing pile of questions, due to pandemic related filming delays in 2020. Now, however, after a two year wait, Line of Duty finally returns to 大象传媒 One this Sunday (21st March).

This will be the sixth season of Line of Duty to grace our screens since the show’s debut in 2012. Almost ten years later, the series has become more anticipated than ever, occupying a status that most dramas of its age can only dream of. But how has Line of Duty lasted for quite so long? And why can’t viewers stop coming back?

In 2021, Line of Duty is so popular that it has spawned a host of online memes, fan forums, and of course, an official 大象传媒 companion podcast, Obsessed With… Line of Duty. This year, Obsessed With… will be hosted by none other than the Caddy himself, Craig Parkinson, who played DI Matthew “Dot” Cottan on the show, until his explosive exit at the end of season three.

I asked Craig what it is that keeps fans always wanting more from the show. “You can never second guess it,” he told me. “That’s what keeps people gripped. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, it twists into something else. Or just when you’re invested in a character, it takes that character away. And that is what is tremendously enjoyable for an audience.”

Of course, there’s only one man who knows exactly where Line of Duty’s labyrinthine plot is headed: its creator Jed Mercurio. Discussing the programme recently, Jed told journalists, “One of the things about the show is that nobody’s safe, it’s what keeps the audience on the edge of their seat,” and acknowledged that no storyline is off limits, even when it comes to killing off his AC-12 leads – DI Kate Fleming, DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston), and Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar.) “We all get on brilliantly but everybody knows that we’re serving something bigger than ourselves, which is Line of Duty.”

Indeed, while it’s this no-nonsense approach to scripting which makes Line of Duty so tantalising (and this has only amped up in recent years, as season five saw the guest lead, DS John Corbett (Stephen Graham) picked off midway through the run), it’s the light as well as the shade which means that the show has continued to appeal. Much of the show’s humour is delivered via Adrian Dunbar’s Ted Hastings, AC-12’s leader and resident catchphrase merchant, and Ted’s much-used Irish idioms have gained appreciation among Line of Duty’s audience, particularly as the online culture around the show has snowballed. “They’ve taken on a life of their own,” Adrian said recently. “You can do bingo games, drinking games – you can do all kinds of things with the ‘fellas’ and the ‘mother of Gods.’”

Of all Line of Duty’s signature moves, however, it’s those long interrogation scenes which hit hardest, and which ensure the show stands out from everything else on TV (they’re so effective that they even influenced a newer series, Netflix’s Criminal, whose episodes are composed almost solely of police interview scenes.) Stripped bare of flashy action, they offer intensity and the opportunity for standout performances – and while they’re an audience favourite, they understandably make a meaty challenge for actors.

For new guest lead, Trainspotting and Boardwalk Empire star Kelly McDonald, the interview scenes’ brick walls of dialogue were daunting at first. Describing her first experience of the script to press, she said, “I was happily reading, and then suddenly it was just “Oh there’s a massive long screed of dialogue!” It’s so compelling and the character was so great, but I did have to get over that obstacle in my mind.”

Part of Kelly’s reason for accepting the season six guest lead role of the enigmatic DCI Jo Davidson was Line of Duty’s storied reputation. “It’s just part of everybody’s awareness now, because it’s such a massive show and people are so invested in it week to week,” she explained.

Kelly is right: Line of Duty is a national phenomenon, and the numbers concur. After its dynamite third season, and its catch-up success on Netflix, the show moved over to 大象传媒 One, where it attracted an increased average viewership of over four million per episode. For series five, the average viewership grew to 12.85 million – these are figures that are almost unheard of in current moment, now much more defined by streaming than by terrestrial broadcasts.

I asked Craig how it feels, then, to know that what started as a 大象传媒 Two cult favourite has evolved into a mainstream hit, which shows no signs of slowing down. “I feel tremendously proud if I’m honest,” he said. “This little show that we all got together – we were all just invested in what incredible scripts they were. And now it’s safe to say that it’s one of the biggest shows on television.

"The nation is gripped – the nation’s obsessed with Line of Duty.”