![\"Kate](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/\/a019a718-870e-4733-8d44-5231ee9e89ba.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAlmost five years ago the mystery surrounding the supervillain \u201cH\u201d was finally cracked.<\/p>\n
AC-12, the anti-corruption unit spearheaded by Ted Hastings, Steve Arnott and Kate Fleming, dismantled the organised crime syndicate in front of a record audience of 17 million.<\/p>\n
After something of a mixed reaction to the unmasking of Detective Superintendent Ian Buckells, production on a seventh outing for Line of Duty will begin in Belfast next year.<\/p>\n
Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar will reprise their roles in the creator Jed Mercurio\u2019s six-part series, which is not expected to be broadcast before 2027.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar<\/p>\n
AIDEN MONAGHAN\/BBC<\/p>\n
In the forthcoming series, AC-12 has been disbanded and rebranded the Inspectorate of Police Standards in an increasingly challenging climate for its anti-corruption work.<\/p>\n
The unit is assigned its most sensitive case to date when a charismatic detective inspector, who has won plaudits for a string of takedowns of organised crime, is accused of abusing his position of trust to act as a sexual predator.<\/p>\n
But in characteristic fashion, larger questions loom as to whether the case is a deliberate distraction from a bigger threat that is still operating.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ten best TV detective duos, ranked by our critic<\/a><\/p>\n Mercurio said it was a privilege that so many viewers continued to be absorbed in the twists and turns of AC-12.<\/p>\n \u201cCorruption in this country is supposed to have come to an end while Line of Duty was off air, so I\u2019ve been forced to use my imagination,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Compston said his role as Arnott was the \u201cjob of a lifetime\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t wait to pull the waistcoat on again and get the team back together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ben Dowell, deputy TV editor for The Times, predicted a return<\/a> even as the credits were rolling on series six.<\/p>\n At the time he wrote: \u201cThis sixth series had a feel of finality, but sans Ted, with AC-12 likely to be denuded and Buckells looking like he may even get away with it, there is still much work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n In July Dunbar said the actors were in the dark about plotlines<\/p>\n Discussing the potential for a seventh series in July, Dunbar admitted that the conclusion left audiences wanting more.<\/p>\n \u201cIt robbed us of a huge denouement. When you find out it is this idiot, Buckells, it is so frustrating,\u201d Dunbar told The Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a scene where the three of us are told who it is, and we look at each other and go, \u2018What?\u2019 We asked Jed to write that scene because we realised how our audience would feel. But Jed\u2019s point was that police corruption can hang on one cop deciding to ignore one piece of information that comes across his desk.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that the actors were as much in the dark about what the seventh series might contain as audiences.<\/p>\n![\"Vicky](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/\/e44d4938-b54f-4350-be3e-b194880e3ea3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n