What should we expect from Line of Duty season 7 now? | Radio Times

Anticipation around the forthcoming seventh season of Line of Duty received another jolt this week with the identity of new cast members joining resident trio Ted Hastings, Steve Arnott and Kate Fleming.

The BBC has announced that the new run will see the now legendary AC-12 internal anti-corruption police unit disbanded and rebranded the Inspectorate of Police Standards. Amidst the change, Arnott (Martin Compston), Fleming (Vicky McClure) and Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) are assigned a fresh, unprecedentedly sensitive case.

Tom Weston-Jones (Warrior, Sanditon) plays Detective Inspector Dominic Gough, a heralded officer who stands accused of abusing his position to act as a sexual predator.

The biggest new name on the bill is Robert Carlyle, who will appear as one of Gough’s reports, Detective Constable Shaun Massie, a Specialist Rifle Officer (SRO) and veteran marksman, operating with Tactical Operations Unit 7 (TO-7) to take down Organised Crime Groups.

There are also some returning characters, including Mark Bonnar and Owen Teale as the previously shamed police officers Mike Dryden and Philip Osborne – their reappearance hints at the opening of a cold case.

Martin Compston, Robert Carlyle, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar for Line of Duty. They have their arms round each other, are stood in front of a black curtain and are smiling at the camera. — Martin Compston, Robert Carlyle, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar at a Line of Duty read-through. BBC/World Productions

But will Jed Mercurio be able to juggle keeping the storyline fresh while satisfying those fans left unimpressed by the season 6 finale unveiling of ‘H’?

No TV writer has been able to keep us on the edge of our seats in the way Mercurio managed through six seasons of a show that began life as a word-of-mouth sizzler on BBC Two, made household names of its leading trio and a selling point of Mercurio’s readiness to despatch ruthlessly other, bigger guest stars.

It’s a rare universe where being Stephen Graham or Daniel Mays isn’t enough to keep you in the credits. Keeley Hawes’s career was transformed with her glow-down as Lindsay Denton, and we all became as fluent in Dunbar’s Irish lyricism – “now we’re sucking diesel” – as in deliberately dense police jargon – “for the tape, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”.

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Line of Duty finally crashed out in 2021, with the identity of arch-villain ‘H’ revealed in a finale that saw one of those national grid-measured moments of shared TV experience, like the old days. But was it a whimper or a bang? Many viewers groaned that ‘H’ turned out not to be some Bond super-nemesis operating from his lair, nor even Hastings himself, even if the nation couldn’t have coped with that on top of lockdown.

Instead, the ultimate antagonist turned out to be ruthless dullard DSU Ian Buckells – the totem of Mercurio’s message that ineptitude allows corruption to triumph while evil sleeps. I found myself in a minority of one in being satisfied with this nuanced pay-off, while everyone else declared themselves let down, and demanded a recount.

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Six years later, and the people have had their way. Contrary to all writers’ rules of leaving them wanting more, Mercurio has been persuaded to break the glass for some emergency inspiration and give his audience what it demands.

I have questions. For a start, exactly how are they going to deal with the previous resolution of H’s uncovering? Will Steve Arnott wake up and find the whole of series 6 was a Bobby-Ewing showery moment? Or is there a tiny little Easter egg of an idea that Jed had buried away in series 4 or 5 for just such moments? Even if he has, having previously stuck to his principles in opting for a subtle, provocative and semi-realistic denouement instead of a High Noon shoot-out, how will he ride those two horses this time around to once again satisfy his vision while giving us braying masses what we want?

The only thing we know for sure is that, as he’s done so masterfully in the past, Mercurio will keep us guessing to the end.

Line of Duty seasons 1-6 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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