Line of Duty is a British police procedural BBC television series created by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions. The first series premiered on 26 June 2012 and became BBC Two’s best-performing drama series in ten years with a consolidated audience of 4.1 million viewers. The second series broadcast began on 12 February 2014; its widespread public and critical acclaim led to the BBC commissioning a further two series. 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 and broadcast began on BBC One on 31 March 2019. In May 2017, the BBC commissioned a sixth series. Filming began in February 2020 and stopped the following month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in September 2020. Broadcast date is yet to be announced.
Line of Duty is the most popular drama series broadcast on BBC Two and is a winner of the Royal Television Society Award and Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Drama Series. It was included in a list of the Top 50 BBC Two shows of all time and in a list of the 80 best BBC shows of all time. The series ranked eighth in The Independent‘s list of the twenty greatest police shows of all time and third in a Radio Times poll of the best British crime dramas of all time.
Line of Duty showrunner Jed Mercurio said: “Thanks so much to our brilliant cast and crew who applied rigorous Covid safety measures to deliver Line of Duty six to our wonderful fans. We’re all immensely grateful to World Productions and the BBC for the unswerving support they’ve given us in a time of unprecedented challenges to UK television production.”