Whether your a series stalwart, or new to the game (where have you been?), explore the details, characters, locations and best moments from the BBC smash hit, and the best place to binge it all.

What is Line Of Duty about?

AC-12 is headed up by Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), and he is interested in one thing, and one thing only – catching bent coppers. In the show’s first season he recruits Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) into his crack team of undercover investigators, and they soon find not only success, but friendship too.

Although the team moves through various covert operations, and lots of confusing acronyms (see #CHIS), the central story is built around a long-running organised crime group, or OCG (told you), operating within the police force – a clandestine network of institutionalised corruption at the heart of what should be a bastion of truth and integrity.

The OCG is purportedly headed up by a mysterious character known only as “H”, or “The Fourth Man” in later seasons, and unmasking him is Hastings’ Everest.

Where is Line Of Duty filmed?

Hastings, Fleming and Arnott all work for the fictional Central Police Force, however it’s never made clear where in the UK the CPF is based.

Keen-eyed viewers may have recognised some Birmingham architecture in the first season of the show (2012), however subsequent filming was all done in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The show’s creator, Jed Mercurio, based the fictitious AC-12 on the London Met’s A10 unit.

Who is in the cast of Line of Duty?

Aside from Dunbar (My Left Foot), McClure (This Is England) and Compston (Filth), there’s a long list of appearances by other notable names from film and TV throughout the show’s six seasons.

To name a few, we’ve enjoyed the acting talents of: Lennie James (The Walking Dead), Neil Morrissey (Men Behaving Badly), Gina McKee (Notting Hill), Keely Hawes (Bodyguard), Owen Teale (Game Of Thrones), Thandiwe Newton (Westworld), Kate Ashfield (Shaun Of The Dead), Stephen Graham (This Is England), Lucie Shorthouse (Bulletproof), Kelly Macdonald (Trainspotting), and most recently, James Nesbitt (Cold Feet).

How many seasons of Line Of Duty have there been?

There have been six seasons of Line of Duty, and at the moment there’s nothing yet penned for season seven. When asked about the prospect of a seventh season, Mercurio said: “We would hope there could be. But we’re having to do our planning coming out of COVID, and a whole bunch of other things, around the idea that these things aren’t guaranteed at all now. A lot of it depends on the key creatives – that’s me and the main actors – finding new stories to tell within that universe.”

That said, Gareth Bryn, who directed a couple of the season six episodes, tweeted on 27 April: “Shocking! Only 11 million viewers for #LineofDuty!? Well, that’s embarrassing! What about the 50 million NOT watching. I suppose it IS helpful to have something for @jed_mercurio to aim for when he gets series 7 under way!”

So, the jury’s out – only time will tell.

Where can you watch Line Of Duty?

You can catch seasons 1-6 of Line Of Duty in Apps & Games > BBC iPlayer.

Want to know where your other favourite TV shows were filmed?

Find everything you need to know about Line Of Duty, Bridgerton, The Crown and more…