The BBC have announced the cast for a new drama series set within a police anit-corruption unit and billed as taking a “probing look into modern policing”.
Vicky McClure (This Is England), Martin Compston (The Disappearance Of Alice Creed), Lennie James (The Walking Dead), Gina McKee (Our Friends In The North) and Neil Morrissey (Waterloo Road) head the cast of Line Of Duty.
The drama follows Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott (Compston) who is transferred to the unit after a mistaken shooting during a counter-terrorist operation.
In his new role he finds himself assigned to investigate alleged corruption by a popular officer, Detective Chief Inspector Tony Gates (James).
But while Gates cleverly manipulates his unit’s figures, Arnott questions whether he’s simply being made a scapegoat for a culture of institutionalised spin, or is guilty of darker corruption?
Writer Jed Mercurio says: “I’m hugely excited by the opportunity to set a drama in the controversial realities of 21st century policing. Line Of Duty is a commentary on the perverse bureaucracy that hamstrings frontline officers, but first and foremost it’s a thriller.
“Lennie James is electric as DCI Tony Gates, a complex and elusive anti-hero, and a formidable antagonist for two of the most exciting young talents in British TV – Martin Compston and Vicky McClure – who play the relentless anti-corruption officers on his trail.”
BBC Drama Commissioner Ben Stephenson says: “Jed Mercurio has created a brilliantly imagined fictional police drama that feels remarkably prescient. The fine cast will reveal a complex set of characters who will shine a timely spotlight on modern day policing.”
Filming is currently underway in Birmingham with the series expected to air in 2012.