{"id":270516,"date":"2025-11-18T22:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T22:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/270516\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T22:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T22:42:09","slug":"the-job-of-a-lifetime-line-of-duty-to-return-for-seventh-season-line-of-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/270516\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The job of a lifetime\u2019: Line of Duty to return for seventh season | Line of Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

BBC hit crime drama Line of Duty<\/a> has been confirmed to return for a seventh series. A new six-part season following police anti-corruption investigations was today announced by the BBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more delighted to be returning for a seventh [series],\u201d said creator Jed Mercurio. \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<\/p>\n

The return of the three lead characters has also been confirmed. The series will star Vicky McClure<\/a> and Martin Compston as detective pair Kate Fleming and Steve Arnott. They are joined once more by Adrian Dunbar as Ted Hastings, the uncompromisingly moral officer whose hatred of \u201cbent coppers\u201d is matched only by his passion for esoteric exclamations of rage involving the phrase \u201cwee donkey\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a change to the format of the previous series, the plot revolves around the previous police anti-corruption unit, AC-12, having been disbanded and rebranded the Inspectorate of Police Standards. The team will investigate a detective inspector who\u2019s accused of being a sexual predator in an environment the BBC describe as one where \u201canticorruption work has never been more difficult\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we count down the AC-12 days of Christmas what a joy it is to know that the Three Amigos will be back filming together next year,\u201d said Dunbar.<\/p>\n

\u201cLine of Duty has been a job of a lifetime,\u201d said Compston. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to pull the waistcoat on again and get the team back together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actor playing the suspect hasn\u2019t yet been revealed. However, the show has a habit of introducing one big-name guest star a season, with previous participants including Keeley Hawes, Kelly Macdonald, Stephen Graham and Thandiwe Newton.<\/p>\n

Public pronouncements from the cast about their desire to film an AC-12 reunion means that there have long been rumours about its return. Some outlets even reported in 2022 that a three-part miniseries was imminent<\/a>. The BBC\u2019s latest announcement is a surprise, however, given that as recently as October, McClure was pouring cold water on the prospect of a return for the show in a Radio Times interview, saying she didn\u2019t \u201chave any updates, I\u2019m afraid\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to give anyone any false hope,\u201d said McClure. \u201cWe\u2019ve all been very clear that we\u2019d absolutely love to do another series.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdrian [Dunbar]<\/a>, Martin [Compston] and I have been talking about doing a travel show together, though. If any of us ever has any spare time, we\u2019ll do it. Line of Duty gave us two brilliant things \u2013 our careers and our friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Line of Duty has been off screens since its sixth season ended in May 2021. The finale was a ratings success, with a record 12.8 million viewers<\/a> tuning in \u2013 which the BBC said was the most watched episode of any drama, excluding soaps, since modern records began in 2002.<\/p>\n

It was largely viewed as a disappointment<\/a>, however, marking a season that failed to hit the heights of previous outings. The Guardian\u2019s TV critic Lucy Mangan said of it<\/a>: \u201cAt the risk of sounding like a mere embittered fan shouting at Johnny-come-latelies \u2026 man, you should have seen it back in the days when it was good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC hit crime drama Line of Duty has been confirmed to return for a seventh series. A new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-270516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}