First Look: Line of Duty series 6

Mother of God, have we got some good news for you… Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), Detective Inspector Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) are back on our screens later this month. The adventures of the anti-police corruption unit AC-12 are set to return to BBC One in Britain’s most talked about drama, Line of Duty.

Each new series sees a new high profile guest star added to the cast. This sixth season is no different as Trainspotting and Boardwalk Empire actress Kelly Macdonald joins the regular players. She’s Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson, a senior investigating officer waist deep in a murder case who, unsurprisingly, exhibits some behaviour that makes AC-12 suspicious. Her character has already been discussed by one show insider as ‘the most enigmatic adversary AC-12 have ever faced.’ Which is saying something.

Shalom Brune-Franklin (Our Girl) is another new face; she’ll play a new recruit to the team, replacing the departed/dead PC Maneet Bindra. Also coming aboard for this series are actress and comedian Andi Osho (I May Destroy You), Perry Fitzpatrick (This is England), Michael Yare (Game of Thrones) and Prassana Puwanarajah (Doctor Foster).

Filming started over in Northern Ireland way back in February 2020 and didn’t wrap up until the end of that year. The delay was caused, of course, by the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown. Plot details are patchy at the time of publishing, but we have caught wind that the pandemic is set to feature somewhat in the new series, if only in a rather minor way. No characters will be wearing face coverings or observing social distancing rules, though.

Lead writer Jed Mercurio said this of the series’ nod to the pandemic: ‘We snuck in a few allegorical points in relation to the current situation, so sharp-eyed viewers should look out for those.’

Here’s a teaser trailer recently put out by the BBC on Twitter.

‘Houl yer whisht!’

Apparently that’s a Northern Irish expression meaning ‘shut up’. Ah, good ol’ Superintendent Hastings. Always good for a new catchphrase or three.

Of course, the most intriguing thing about this teaser trailer is Steve Arnott’s cheeky little offer to his boss at the end… ‘How about an extra episode, gaffer?’

So it looks as if we have a full seven hours of Line of Duty to enjoy in 2021, not just the usual six.

There’s been plenty of speculation online that this latest series could well be Line of Duty’s last. We’ll have to see how the final episode leaves things, but there’s been no official confirmation of the crime drama coming to a close or being recommissioned.

The much-loved Dunbar doesn’t see it ending any time soon, though. He said this recently: ‘I’ll go on as long as there’s an appetite from our audience for the show. Why should we stop? We’ve managed to keep the standard and people love the show. I hope it does go on.’

‘But of course everything is finite, I see Peaky Blinders is coming off after six fabulous seasons. When it ends, it will end, and we’ll have all had the most wonderful time.’

It’s not long now until we’ll all be suckin’ diesel again. The much-anticipated sixth run of the bent coppers drama will start on BBC One on Sunday the 21^st of March at 9pm and be available on BBC iPlayer shortly afterwards.