The closure we deserve: Hit British crime drama ‘Line of Duty’ reportedly sets season 7 filming date
Line of Duty is one of the all-time great British crime dramas. Few shows have ever united the British public in the same way. Multiple group chats were blowing up my phone when what was originally meant to be the series finale aired in 2021, and though the reveal of criminal mastermind H’s mysterious identity was … underwhelming, to say the least, I will happily go back and rewatch the entire thing all over again. It’s that addictive.
It seems the BBC is giving me an excuse to rewatch Line of Duty’s first six seasons sooner rather than later, as The Sun has reported the in-demand cast has found a free window to film the long-rumored season 7 in January 2026. If this is true, the series could potentially return to our screens in late 2026. According to the tabloid (I tend to take everything The Sun says with a grain of salt, but there’s currently no reason to believe otherwise), Vicky McClure, Martin Compston, and Adrian Dunbar are all set to return to film the new 6-part season, having recently met with series creator Jed Mercurio and the production team. According to an unnamed insider, they’ve “finally managed to clear space in their calendars next year to commit to making the show.” The BBC has not yet confirmed The Sun’s story.
Now, this would be fabulous news even if season 6 hadn’t felt somewhat deflating, as Mercurio is one of the U.K.’s most acclaimed TV writers, and Line of Duty’s characters are worth a revisit. Since season 6 was a bit of a confounding mess, however, I’m even more excited by the prospect of Line of Duty season 7. It may not be able to change H’s identity—well, it could, but if it wants to remain believable, it probably shouldn’t—but the best part of the show, for me, at least, wasn’t necessarily the overarching behind-the-scenes criminal plot.
Instead, it was its exploration of individual bent coppers and how they came to be one, as the pressures of policing, family, finances, politics, greed, and more twisted these officers into something unrecognizable. This ties in with Ted Hastings’ (Dunbar) assertion that H’s criminal enterprise wasn’t necessarily the result of one man’s genius but rather the institutional failings of the police as a whole. DSU Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle) is the definition of “failing upward,” after all.
Those institutional problems are something the series will need to explore further, but as season 6 ended with the incredibly depressing tagline “AC-12’s powers to curb wrongdoing in public office have never been weaker,” it stands to reason AC-12 may no longer have the resources to infiltrate high-level OCGs (for the time being, anyway). As such, it could potentially return to the team investigating individual bent coppers, a narrative framework that will still allow Mercurio to explore the institutional issues plaguing Britain’s police forces. That’s what the show excelled at in the first place, after all. Remember how excellent Lennie James and Keeley Hawes were in the first two seasons before we truly understood the scope of H’s influence? I’d love to return to that.
Let’s be real, though. I’ll be seated no matter what.
Line of Duty seasons 1-6 are now available to stream on BritBox and BBC iPlayer.
(featured image: BBC)
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