Ok, so here’s everything we know about Line Of Duty so far…

By Becky Hardy

Yes, Boris has now announced the roadmap out of this lockdown and yes, of course we’re very excited about the potential developments of the next few months. But there’s one date that stands out more than any other, and it doesn’t have anything to do with COVID. Sunday 21st March – the return of Line Of Duty.

If you’ve seen any of the BBC’s hit cop series and it isn’t your favourite show ever then, we’re sorry, you’re probably lying. All five series have been a smash hit with audiences so far, with the finale of series five the most-watched programme of 2019 (by a landslide). So we almost heard the collective intake of breath across the country when, at long last, the new trailer for series six dropped at the start of March.

But while we’ll not hear anything negative about the escapades of the wholly (bad-ass) trinity – aka Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), DS Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) – we will concede one point: there’s a lot to remember.

Luckily for you, we’ve racked our brains and – for the good of our readership, guys – have rewatched series one–five, just so we can provide this handy refresher for those of you who may have forgotten some of the finer details.

SERIES ONE

‘You take a shot at the king, make sure you kill him, son!’

Cast your mind back to 2012. A young, fresh-faced and idealistic DS Arnott refuses to  participate in a police cover-up. Although his actions cost him his popularity in the force, they do help him get a job – he’s recruited by our main man, Superintendent Ted Hastings, head of anti-corruption unit AC-12.

DS Arnott’s first assignment is to investigate DCI Tony Gates – a high-flying officer with a suspiciously impressive success rate. With the help of undercover officer DI Fleming, Arnott discovers Tony has indeed been covering up for a deadly hit-and-run.

Realising his career is over, Tony takes his own life – but the corruption does not die with him.

Another officer in his team, DS Matthew ‘Dot’ Cottan, is revealed to be an inside man for gangster John ‘Tommy’ Hunter. But Dot – also known as ‘The Caddy’ (#important) – is better than Tony at covering his tracks…

SERIES THREE

‘We gather evidence and the people decide. They’ve decided she didn’t do it because you couldn’t keep it in your pants!’

A police raid ends with Sergeant Danny Waldron gunning down a suspect in cold blood, then making it look as if the dead man shot first.

Danny is then killed himself, but not before alerting DI Fleming to the existence of a list of people involved in a child abuse ring. #HIGHLYIMPORTANT.

Finding the list and seeing Tommy Hunter’s name on it, Dot Cottan – still ‘working’ for AC-12 – destroys it. Oh, he’s also making it look as if Steve is the mysterious ‘Caddy’.

While appealing her imprisonment, DI Denton reveals she had sex with Arnott while he was undercover (#FFSSteve), thus exposing AC-12’s failings in their investigation.

SERIES FOUR

‘This is beginning to feel like a life’s work!’

Under pressure to catch a serial killer, DCI Roz Huntley (Thandie Newton) could do without forensic coordinator Tim Ifield questioning the evidence against the suspect.

He takes his concerns to AC-12 and DS Fleming goes undercover to investigate Huntley. Suspecting Ifield has shopped her, Huntley confronts him at his home.

Huntley returns to work with a concealed hand injury. Ifield is then discovered dead, with three fingers amputated.

Taking charge of the crime scene, Huntley implicates Ifield in another murder. Her husband Nick refuses to confirm her alibi and falls under suspicion himself. When DS Arnott goes to Nick’s office to question him, a man in a balaclava throws him down a flight of stairs (#JusticeForSteve).

Huntley has to have her hand amputated and is arrested for killing Tim Ifield. Her solicitor is found to be linked to ‘Balaclava Man’ – who we find out is Huntley’s boss, Assistant Chief Constable Derek Hilton. Hilton makes a run for it, but can’t escape the #balaclavagang, who silence their one-time asset in an apparent suicide.

THE MOST IMPORTANT BIT OF INFO YET – a recording of Cottan’s deathbed declaration reveals he was promoted by a corrupt copper whose name begins with ‘H’. Is this the newly deceased Hilton… Or could it be Ted Hastings?!

WHAT TO TAKEAWAY – THE BALACLAVA GANG

The balaclava gang are behind pretty much every crime we’ve seen in Line of Duty. Believed to all be involved with the child abuse ring partially uncovered in Series 3, they work in conjunction with ‘H’ – a shady figure embedded within the upper echelons of the police force.

But the question remains – who is H?