Should Line of Duty return?

"Line of Duty" was a much-loved crime drama, captivating millions of viewers each week during its six-season stint, but after a disappointing finale in 2021, some critics are sceptical about a revival.

Rumours of a series reboot circulated earlier this year when the show's leads, Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure and Martin Compston, were seen meeting with creator Jed Mercurio. Now, Dunbar "has let the wee donkey out of the bag", said Ed Power on the i news site. Asked on Times Radio if the show will return, he said "It looks like it."

'Past its sell-by date'

"Line of Duty" certainly "delivered thrills in abundance", said Power, but it came "crashing to Earth three years ago" with its final series. Its "big reveal" turned out to be the "biggest damp squib on television this side of the 'Game of Thrones' finale". Millions of fans who had stuck by the show for nearly a decade came away "baffled and underwhelmed".

The show has "become high on the vapours of its own mythology", and while there's "sure to be huge excitement" about a comeback, nobody has paused to consider if the "return of a series clearly past its sell-by date is a good thing".

By the end, the plot of "Line of Duty" had become "so complex" that it resembled "one of those maths problems that you can fully understand only for about 20 seconds after an hour of solid thought, before it all ebbs away again", said Hugo Rifkind in The Times as the final season aired in 2021. And while it started out with "fantastic interview-room duels" that managed to distil the "essence of every police interview scene you had ever seen", it ended up feeling like a "constipated echo of itself".

'Fresh twists' needed

The show still holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96% and an audience rating of 94%, said Collider, so there is "no doubting the chokehold" that it had "over the crime genre on British television". Fans across the world have "waited patiently for an update on the series' future" so the latest news "sure is enticing".

"Line of Duty" felt "groundbreaking" at the time, said Love Belfast. "Its high-stakes investigations, layered characters, and unpredictable twists captivated audiences, and AC-12's pursuit of 'bent coppers' quickly became a cultural phenomenon." In the end, a new series will only work if it "builds on past successes while offering fresh twists".