The first series of the British police procedural television programme Line of Duty, was broadcast on BBC Two between 26 June and 24 July 2012. The series follows the actions of the fictional anti-corruption unit 12. AC-12 is led by Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) who recruits DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) and is backed by undercover officer DC Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure), as they lead an investigation into the corrupt actions of DCI Tony Gates (Lennie James). Supporting characters include DS Matthew Cottan (Craig Parkinson) and DC Nigel Morton (Neil Morrissey). The series was created and written by Jed Mercurio, who also serves as an producer. Filming took place in Birmingham in late-2011. Five episodes were directed by David Caffrey and Douglas Mackinnon with cinematographer Ruairi O'Brien. Despite being censured by Ofcom, the series received mostly positive reviews and was nominated for multiple awards leading to the commission of a second series.
A police raid on the wrong flat causes the death of an innocent man. DS Arnott refuses to help cover it up and is recruited to AC-12, an anti-corruption team led by Superintendent Hastings. Arnott's first investigation is on DCI Gates, the senior officer of TO-20, who is suspected of laddering – adding additional charges to the same defendant to increase the number of successful cases. Hastings interviews Gates about his failure to report accepting a free breakfast. Gates reassures his mistress, Jackie Laverty, after she claims to have hit a dog while drink driving. Laverty reports her car stolen and Gates helps fake a break-in at her home. He later discovers that Laverty killed a man. Fleming, currently undercover, requests to join Gates' team. TO-20 stakes-out two suspected drug dealers, but Cottan and Kapoor leave their post early and the two dealers are found murdered, with their fingers cut off. Laverty makes a statement about the hit and run to an intelligence officer, but fails to disclose her role. When the victim is identified as, Laverty's accountant at her business Laverty Holdings, Gates deletes the missing persons report – but not before Arnott manages to take a look.
2
2
"Episode 2" "The Assault"
David Caffrey
3 July 2012 (2012-07-03)
3.84
TO-20 continues their investigation into the double murder. PC Bannerjee and PC Larkin respond to an alarm and catch a burglar, Lee Plater, who confesses to other offences. Arnott interviews the waitress who gave Gates the free breakfast, and she reveals that a woman was with Gates. A search on the police database reveals that many burglaries committed by Plater were at properties owned by Laverty Holdings. After visiting one of these properties, Arnott suspects that Laverty is laundering money. The investigating team realise that the dealers' murderers cannot have found what they were looking for, but find an empty secret hiding place, where they suspect the drugs may have been stashed. Gates confronts Laverty over the death of her accountant and Gates realises that she was laundering money. Gates arrests her, but she persuades him to release her. Another drug dealer is found dead hanging from a lamp post with his fingers cut off, but Fleming realises that Gates has disappeared and informs Arnott. While Gates and Laverty are together in her house, masked intruders knock Gates unconscious and Laverty is murdered. The intruders place Gates' fingerprints on the murder weapon.
3
3
"Episode 3" "In the Trap"
David Caffrey
10 July 2012 (2012-07-10)
3.80
Arnott arrives at Laverty's house to find Gates claiming that he came to arrest Laverty. Gates takes his whisky glass and wipes his prints from the bottle. Arnott hopes to prove that Gates was at the property before Laverty disappeared. Hastings and Arnott bring Gates in for questioning. Gates confirms that Laverty was an old flame, but denies knowledge of the money laundering. The Laverty case is reassigned to DI Ian Buckells. Fleming looks at CCTV from the night of the double murder and suggests the killers circled the area until Cottan and Kapoor left. Gates tries to dispose of the whisky glass from Laverty's house. The murder suspect car is spotted, and Gates and Morton give chase. During the pursuit, Gates is kidnapped and taken to a warehouse where he is shown Laverty's body and told to stay quiet, or the weapon with his fingerprints will be handed to the police. Arnott acts on a tip that the whisky glass is hidden in a storm drain, based on false information that Gates gave to his officers to test their loyalty. Kapoor is forced to leave Gates' team. Arnott messages Hastings and Fleming to tell them he quits.
Fleming suggests to Arnott that the link between Laverty's money laundering scam and Gates may be his children's expensive school fees. The school confirms that Laverty paid the tuition and fees in cash. Arnott agrees to stay with AC-12. Hastings interviews the rest of Gates's squad over the laddering charge. Morton refuses to comment and Fleming sticks to her cover. During Hastings' interrogation of Cottan, Cottan claims that Gates ordered him and Kapoor to leave the stake-out early. Forensic evidence at the crime scene and Arabic books belonging to the victims leads Gates to make up a cover story regarding a possible terrorism plot. Gates finds the location where he was held, but Laverty's body is gone. He receives a call from 'Tommy', who informs him that he wants Arnott out of the way. Morton catches Fleming with two phones; realising she is an AC-12 mole, he assaults her. Arnott receives a phone call from one of Laverty's tenants claiming to have information linking Gates to the gang. When Arnott arrives at the meeting, he finds Gates colluding with the gang. Arnott is ambushed and tied to a chair while Gates drives away.
5
5
"Episode 5" "The Ambush"
Douglas Mackinnon
24 July 2012 (2012-07-24)
3.72
Gates returns to rescue Arnott who believes that Gates is innocent of the murders. With her cover blown, Fleming leaves TO-20. Cottan is assigned to replace Gates on the triple murder case, while Arnott's former Chief Inspector is brought in to oversee the operation into apprehending the suspected terrorists. Fleming interviews Ryan Pilkington, the teenager who acts as a courier for the organised crime group, who denies any knowledge of 'Tommy' or the murder of Laverty. Arnott meets with Gates, who tries to convince Arnott that he was forced to turn rogue by the sequence of events. Hastings agrees to put a tap on the phone network used by 'Tommy' until one of his phone numbers is re-activated. When the phone number is re-activated, Gates, Arnott and Fleming trail 'Tommy' to a golf club. Gates arrests Tommy Hunter, who reveals that his boys were responsible for the murder of Laverty and the three drug dealers. As Arnott and Fleming catch up with them, Gates, realising his career is over, tells Arnott to say that he was killed in the line of duty, before committing suicide. After Hunter is arrested, Cottan privately tips him off about the terrorism theory.
Series creator and producer Jed Mercurio stated that when creating Line of Duty he wanted to create something different than other already existing programmes, and viewed the series as a "revisionist commentary on 21st century policing".[3] The series is produced by World Productions.[4] Leading the main cast are Lennie James, playing DCI Tony Gates as well as Martin Compston, and Vicky McClure, who portrayed two officers in the fictional Anti-Corruption Unit 12 (AC-12).[5] James was offered the role without an audition and returned to the UK from Los Angeles for filming.[6] He described his character as morally grey, comparing the concept to the people involved in the Syrian civil war.[7] Compston ultimately played the role of Steve Arnott having to assume an English accent for the series.[8] While auditioning, McClure read parts of the script with multiple people who were recalled for the role of Arnott and performed extensive research into the police force before portraying of DC Kate Flemming.[9]Gina McKee, Neil Morrissey, Adrian Dunbar, Kate Ashfield, and Craig Parkinson all held supporting roles.[10][11] Parkinson originally auditioned for the role of Arnott[12]Principal photography began in August 2011 with an anticipated airing in early 2012.[5] Five hour-long episodes were directed by David Caffrey and Douglas Mackinnon for BBC Two.[10] Ruairi O'Brien worked as the cinematographer on all five episodes which were filmed over 11 weeks in Birmingham and utilized two cameras.[13] Mercurio later said that despite filming in Birmingham the setting was later changed to the Midlands at the advice of the BBC.[14] Following the series broadcast, Ofcom censured the BBC for not exercising a "duty of care" for Gregory Piper, a 13-year-old actor who was "exposed to sexually explicit language" and adult situations during production.[15] The BBC responded saying they had acquired permission from the Piper's parents to which Ofcom cited their policy of requiring a counsellor or psychologist on set to evaluate the possibility of emotional effects.[16] A second series was commissioned by the BBC on 25 July 2012.[17]
Release
Broadcast and streaming services
On BBC Two the series was first broadcast beginning on 26 June 2012[18] and concluding five weeks later on 24 July.[19] In the Untied States Line of Duty was released on Hulu weekly between 21 August and 18 September 2012,[20][21] and were later added to Acorn TV in 2018 and BritBox by 2021.[22] It was also broadcast on the basic cable television network AMC beginning on 4 April 2020.[a][23] In Canada and Australia the series is available on Netflix.[24] The series was later re-broadcast on BBC One beginning 3 August 2020 due to COVID-19 filming shutdowns delaying production of the sixth season.[25]
Line of Duty premiered to 3.76 million viewers. It was the most watched programme on BBC Two in each week of its initial broadcast, with the exception of episode two which was only beat by a Wimbledon 2012 broadcast. The series finale was viewed by 3.72 million.[2]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator website, the series holds a 100% rating based on five reviews.[34]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gives it an 83/100 indicating "critical acclaim".[35] Writing for The A.V. Club, Sonia Saraiya notes that the story being told from a journalistic standpoint with minimal backstory, and the use of a small main cast, makes for a unique series.[36] Reviewing the series as a whole, The Guardian's Rhik Samadder opines that it's difficult to follow the pacing stating "One minute it's Men Behaving Badly, the next someone with Down's syndrome is being slapped in the face."[37] Sarah Hughes, also with The Guardian, wrote individual episode reviews and says after episode one that it's hard to oppose the character of Tony Gates with the captivating acting from Lennie James.[38] Following episode 3 she writes that Line of Duty performs better in its slower paced episodes compared to action packed ones.[39] Reviewing the final episode of the series, Hughes reaches the conclusion that it would have been better with more episodes believing some story elements were rushed.[40] CultBox also published individual episode reviews from Rob Smedley who stated "Jed Mercurio has already crafted a police drama that feels as claustrophobic and threatening as a night sharing a cell with a convict and his dog"[41] and that its challenging plot is rewardingly rare for a series in the summer timeslot.[42] Ceri Radford from The Daily Telegraph believes that the difference between the characters personal and professional lives were balanced properly.[43]
^ ab"Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Archived from the original on 19 September 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2024. (User must select "BBC2" in the Channel field and then select the appropriate year, month and week to retrieve the figure for each episode)
^"Line of Duty". BBC. 6 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
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