'Line of Duty' Season 6 Is One Wild Ride From Start To Finish

When Line of Duty first started airing in 2012 on BBC Two, it was a hit right out of the gate. Written and created by Jed Mercurio, it was the latest in a string of high-profile projects from the writer that ran the gamut from the ultra-realistic hospital drama Cardiac Arrest to Bodies, an adaptation of his first novel, that landed a slew of award nominations. Mercurio based the series on the real-life Metropolitan Police anti-corruption unit A10. Here rechristened AC12, the unit has slowly dug into what seems to be utterly unconnected corruption cases over the current six-season run.

Now in its sixth season, Line of Duty has become one of BBC One's biggest hits to date, with record-breaking viewership when the series returned in 2021. The series has not hit the mainstream here in the states. Instead, it has reached levels of cult hit status in the United States, first as a secret obsession on Hulu before being scooped up by AMC for Acorn TV ahead of Season 5. The first three seasons also aired in batches as part of pandemic filler programming, on linear AMC, in hopes of drawing attention to the series and Acorn. But Season 6 took everyone by surprise only weeks away from its planned U.S. debut by moving house to BritBox, the other British-oriented streaming service co-owned by the BBC Studios.

For those who are tuning in for the first time to see what the fuss is about, the new series does not need fans to have watched the first five seasons to pick up the familiar rhythms of the police procedural. Led by a pillar of moral upstanding in Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), the series began when DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) was recruited to join this elite force alongside DC (now DI) Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure). In the intervening years, the team has brought down guest star suspect, from DI Lindsay Denton, played by Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard), to DCI Roseanne Huntley, played by Thandiwe Newton (Westworld).