Line of Duty
Line of Duty is a British BBC police procedural television series created by Jed Mercurio. It was BBC Two's best-performing drama series in ten years with an audience of 4.1 million viewers.[1] A second season was ordered. Its success led to the BBC ordering a further two series.[2][3][4] The third series broadcast began on 24 March 2016, and the fourth on 26 March 2017 on BBC One. The fifth series was completed at the end of 2018. It was broadcast on BBC One on 31 March 2019. The BBC has ordered a sixth series.[5]
| Line of Duty | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Created by | Jed Mercurio |
| Written by | Jed Mercurio |
| Directed by |
|
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Stephen Wright (BBC) Simon Heath (World Productions) Jed Mercurio (Series 2–5) |
| Producers | Jed Mercurio (Series 1) Peter Norris (Series 2–3) Cait Collins (Series 4) |
| Production locations | Birmingham (Series 1) Belfast (Series 2–5) |
| Cinematography | Ruairi O'Brien (Series 1–2) Peter Robertson (Series 3) Anna Valdez Hanks (Series 4) Stephen Murphy (Series 4) |
| Running time | 57–88 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Release | April 28, 2016 |
| Release | May 2, 2021 |
It is the most popular drama series broadcast on BBC Two.[6] It has won the Royal Television Society Award[7] and Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Drama Series.[8] Line of Duty was included in a list of the Top 50 BBC Two shows of all-time[9] and in a list of the 80 best BBC shows of all time.[10] It was the highest-ranked current series in a list of the best cop shows of all time.[11] and third in a poll of the best British crime dramas of all time.[12]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Average viewership (in millions)[note 1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Network | |||||
| 1 | 5 | 26 June 2012 | 24 July 2012 | BBC Two | 3.80 | ||
| 2 | 6 | 12 February 2014 | 19 March 2014 | 3.43 | |||
| 3 | 6 | 24 March 2016 | 28 April 2016 | 5.42 | |||
| 4 | 6 | 26 March 2017 | 30 April 2017 | BBC One | 9.55 | ||
| 5 | 6 | 31 March 2019 | 5 May 2019 | 11.10 | |||
| 6 | 7 | 21 March 2021 | 2 May 2021 | 13.67 | |||
Line Of Duty Media
Jed Mercurio created Line of Duty.
The Invest NI headquarters in Belfast depicts AC-12's headquarters.
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Notes
- ↑ Series 1-2 based on 7 day data. Series 3-4 based on 28 day data.
References
- ↑ Jed Mercurio: taking aim at target culture | In-depth | Broadcast Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Moir, Jan. Is Line of Duty the best cop show ever?. Daily Mail (17 March 2014).
- ↑ Sweeney, Mark. Line of Duty set to return for third and fourth series. Guardian (8 April 2014).
- ↑ Express.co.uk (28 April 2016).
- ↑ Jed Mercurio discusses Line of Duty series six and seven (in en). Radio Times. Retrieved 2019-04-14.[dead link]
- ↑ Plunkett, John. Line of Duty outranks Wolf Hall to take BBC2 ratings crown. The Guardian (28 April 2016).
- ↑ RTS Programme Awards 2015.
- ↑ Dowell, Ben. The Crown star Claire Foy among the winners at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. Radio Times (16 March 2018).
- ↑ Hogan, Michael. The Top 50 BBC Two shows of all-time. The Telegraph (18 April 2014).
- ↑ Tate, Gabriel. The 80 Best BBC Shows of All Time. The Telegraph (2 November 2016).
- ↑ Ross, Graeme. The 20 Greatest TV Cop Shows of All Time. The Independent (12 November 2016).
- ↑ Brown, David. Inspector Morse named the greatest British crime drama of all time. Radio Times (3 July 2018).