Yes! Let’s say it again… YES! Line of Duty is coming back for a seventh season and we’ve got some photos and a few details about the series for you to inspect right here on Crime Fiction Lover.
It’s been over five years since season six ended and we thought this phenomenal police procedural was going to just fade into the mists of time. I don’t know about you, but I’ve streamed the whole series a couple of times over since the show ended, and now I’ve just noticed the BBC has added ‘Line of Duty will return’ to its page on iPlayer. Britain isn’t broken after all.
As season seven begins, AC-12 has been decommissioned, replaced by The Inspectorate of Professional Standards. But our favourite characters are still there – the triumvirate of Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and Steve Arnott (Martin Compson). They’re chomping at the bit to take down corrupt coppers on the payroll of organised crime groups, and more…
They’ll be joined by guest stars Robert Carlyle, Tom Weston-Jones and Laura Aikman who play PC Shaun Massie, DI Dominic Gough and DC Paula Beckman respectively.
Massie is an experienced police sharp shooter – or specialist rifle officer (SRO) – part of Tactical Operations Unit 7 (TRO-7). When organised crime groups are tooled up, he gets the call, and he’s dealt with plenty of them in his career. His senior officer, Gough, has been accused of using his position to act as a sexual predator. Can our protagonists get the evidence needed… or is there something bigger going on. Some kind of misdirection, by powers unknown.
The show has already been shot in Belfast, and you’ll see quite a few faces from the past. Season seven is due to air in January – unconfirmed – and is being billed by the BBC as their most sensitive case yet. And, Hastings will have one or two strange new idioms to through our way, with “Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey” giving way to, “Don’t stall the digger.”
Created by Jed Mercurio, Line of Duty season six won our Best Crime Show award in 2021. See below for images from season seven.
