Doing your duty

Introduction

Jed Mercurio first appeared on our screens back in 1994, as the creator of Cardiac Arrest, the controversial medical drama that has been called “the most realistic” medical drama seen on TV by many of those in the profession.

Line of Duty is a police drama series which aired in June and July 2012, but was possibly overshadowed by the sporting events of that summer, because it passed me by, unlike the other big crime drama of the year, “The Shadow Line”. Apparently it was BBC2's best-performing drama series in 10 years, so I’m now doubly surprised it passed me by.



Here’s the basic story, but as usual, can’t give too much away without spoiling it for you. DS Steve Arnott is in charge of a counter-terrorism operation that goes wrong and shoots the wrong man. He disobeys his superior and won’t cover up the bungled operation and is cast out, finding himself transferred to an anti-corruption unit, AC-12, led by Superintendent Hastings.

AC-12 is in investigating “Officer of the Year” DCI Gates who seems to have an alarming knack of picking the right crimes and cleaning up. Gates has rekindled an old relationship, and is seeing Jackie Laverty behind his wife’s back. When Jackie calls him after a late night traffic incident, he is faced with a difficult choice...

Video + Audio

An excellent 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, as first broadcast. Nothing wrong from a technical point of view. We also get a DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, again as first broadcast, and again perfectly fine technically.

Extra Features

A short Behind the Scenes is a bit of a shame, but is to be expected nowadays it seems. No-one is sticking their necks out to make lots of DVD extras unless it’s a big title.

Conclusion

An excellent piece of crime drama. I’m doubly annoyed that I missed this now, because I absolutely loved it. There are some definite Mercurio touches in the script, particularly with some of the banter of the uniformed officers as they chase a burglar through a block of flats. Those scenes really reminded me of Cardiac Arrest. “It’s a six page form to convert it to a non-crime crime number.”



I started out watching Lennie James unable to see him as anyone other than Sol from Snatch, but you soon forget that, as he inhabits DCI Gates very well. Gina McKee, who was excellent as Pauline in the brilliant Hebburn, also similarly leaves that role behind and brings a lot to the role of Jackie Laverty. Lots of good performances from all of the cast...

If you missed it, well worth catching this brilliant series, five hours of great crime drama. Line of Duty series 2 was expected to air on BBC2 before the end of 2013, but it didn’t materialise, however it will be back on Wednesday 12th February at 9pm...