If there’s something that set Line Of Duty apart right from the off, it’s the writing. The BBC’s mega-hit crime drama is written in its entirety by creator and showrunner Jed Mercurio – and its blend of dense acronym-heavy police-speak, ridiculously tense extended interrogation sequences, and immaculately-unfolding twist-heavy plots gives it one of the most distinctive identities in the crowded cop-drama genre. If its uncompromising dialogue initially made Line Of Duty a cult favourite on BBC Two, word-of-mouth around its gripping rug-pulls saw it bloom into one of the biggest shows on TV – and the brand new Series 6 finds Mercurio’s scripts at peak-performance, star Martin Compston tells Empire.
In a major new roundtable interview in the latest issue, Mercurio gathered his Line Of Duty cast members to talk the show’s success – and Compston, who plays AC-12’s Steve Arnott, hailed the upcoming episodes as the “perfect combo” of the show’s ability to pull off twisty tension and major spectacle. “It’s interesting because Series 3 was [for many of us] our favourite series,” he says. “It just seemed like the perfect amalgamation of the storyline building, the action, Danny [Mays] coming in. But I feel like now with Series 6 it’s sort of a perfect combo. Where a lot of the drama is in these back-stabbing moments in back alleys and you don’t know who to trust, and then there are a couple of these huge action sequences thrown in. So I’m really excited to see it all put together, because we go to another level again.”
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While Line Of Duty has shape-shifted over its run – with major characters dropping in and dropping out at the drop of a (crooked copper’s) hat – Compston teased Series 6 as the culmination of an arc that’s been running through the last couple of series – with explosive results. “I think there’s a run of three episodes in this series that are the best Jed’s ever written,” he promises. “They are just astounding. It feels like Series 3 was the culmination of those first three series, and now 6 feels like 4, 5 and 6 have come together and we’re building to this big, big conclusion.”
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Read Empire’s full Line Of Duty roundtable interview in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier issue, on sale now and available to order online here. Line Of Duty Series 6 airs on BBC One on Sundays.