5 Stars of Great British Crime Drama.
But this time the criminals are in-bedded within the police force.
DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston, The Wee Man) heads an anti-terrorism
team arriving at a terrorist suspects hideout, with a full squad of armed police officers, even here we see the first sign of the bureaucracy that surrounds policing today with risk assessment reports being filled in as they go into the operation.
With permission given, the operation is a go as we see a man donning equipment. The suspect is in house number 56 and they approach cautiously, seeing the suspect with a pack on, they blow the door and move in.
The laser pointers light up the foreign mans face, just as we see a new born in his arms; but too late the triggers have been pulled.
Arnott rushes up, only to find the door flattened to house number 59 and an innocent man down.
Leaving the scene Chief Inspector Osborne (Owen Teale, The Last Legion) lays down the events that just went down, all agree apart from Arnott who will never lie, now he becomes ostracised and takes a job at AC12 (Anti Coruption Squad). Headed by Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar, The Crying Game)
He is a man fixated with a man that is too good to be true. DCI Tony Gates, (Lennie James, Snatch, Civvies) who heads a team consisting of Cottan,(Craig Parkinson, Brighton Rock, The Mill), Deepak (Faraz Ayub, Spooks TV) and DC Nigel Morton, (Neil Morrissey, Men Behaving Badly TV) who cherry pick their cases.
At first Steve believes Tony is the best cop in the country and cannot understand the vehemence of his boss, until a tip comes through about “Laddering”, a way of bumping up the stats.
Now Steve has something to get his teeth into and he is like a terrier that’s got a hold of your trouser leg, much to the increasing annoyance of Tony, who is really trying to solve the drug and murders on the moss Heath estate “The Bog”. Tony’s Team is bolstered by the arrival of DC Kate Fleming, (Vicky McClure, This is England, Broadchurch TV).
This is a great series and for one I am looking forward to the second. 
All the cast do a brilliant job of keeping the suspense including Tony’s Mistress Jackie Laverty, (Gina McKee, Notting Hill) who throws the biggest bag of spanners into the works, Brill. Including the mystery Scot on the end of the phone.
It is a murky, murky world within the Line of Duty.
Available to buy on DVD from February 3, 2014
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