Line of Duty

English television drama series


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 byJed Mercurio
Written byJed Mercurio
Directed by
Starring
Theme music composer
Carly Paradis
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes36 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersStephen Wright (BBC)
Simon Heath (World Productions)
Jed Mercurio (Series 2–5)
ProducersJed Mercurio (Series 1)
Peter Norris (Series 2–3)
Cait Collins (Series 4)
Production locationsBirmingham (Series 1)
Belfast (Series 2–5)
CinematographyRuairi O'Brien (Series 1–2)
Peter Robertson (Series 3)
Anna Valdez Hanks (Series 4)
Stephen Murphy (Series 4)
Running time56–58 minutes
Production companyWorld Productions
Original release
NetworkBBC Two (2012–2016)
BBC One (2017–)
Release26 June 2012 (2012-06-26) –
present

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]

SeriesEpisodesOriginally airedAverage viewership
(in millions)[note 1]
First airedLast airedNetwork
1526 June 2012 (2012-06-26)24 July 2012 (2012-07-24)BBC Two3.80
2612 February 2014 (2014-02-12)19 March 2014 (2014-03-19)3.43
3624 March 2016 (2016-03-24)28 April 2016 (2016-04-28)5.42
4626 March 2017 (2017-03-26)30 April 2017 (2017-04-30)BBC One9.55
5631 March 2019 (2019-03-31)5 May 2019 (2019-05-05)TBA

References change

  1. Jed Mercurio: taking aim at target culture | In-depth | Broadcast Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Moir, Jan (17 March 2014). "Is Line of Duty the best cop show ever?". Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014.
  3. Sweeney, Mark (8 April 2014). "Line of Duty set to return for third and fourth series". Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014.
  4. "Express.co.uk". 28 April 2016.
  5. "Jed Mercurio discusses Line of Duty series six and seven". Radio Times. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  6. Plunkett, John (28 April 2016). "Line of Duty outranks Wolf Hall to take BBC2 ratings crown". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 December 2016.
  7. "RTS Programme Awards 2015". Archived from the original on 7 April 2016.
  8. Dowell, Ben (16 March 2018). "The Crown star Claire Foy among the winners at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards". Radio Times.
  9. Hogan, Michael; et al. (18 April 2014). "The Top 50 BBC Two shows of all-time". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
  10. Tate, Gabriel; et al. (2 November 2016). "The 80 Best BBC Shows of All Time". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016.
  11. Ross, Graeme (12 November 2016). "The 20 Greatest TV Cop Shows of All Time". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017.
  12. Brown, David (3 July 2018). "Inspector Morse named the greatest British crime drama of all time". Radio Times.
  1. Series 1-2 based on 7 day data. Series 3-4 based on 28 day data.