DVD: Line Of Duty

POLICE corruption has been a rich source for TV drama ever for decades and Line Of Duty is no exception.

It is a worthy successor to Between The Lines which – risible third season aside – was one of the best police series of the 90s.

Similarly, Line Of Duty focuses on a crack team probing police corruption, but focusing on just one investigation for the whole of each season.

Newly released are the DVD for the just-screened season three and a boxset of all three seasons.

Line Of Duty is as much about the cops under investigation – a different crop each season – as it is the recurring characters from anti corruption unit AC12

Line Of Duty hit the ground running with an excellent, original, enthralling story far more involving than most of the disappointing police series on British channels in recent years.

This quality is continued throughout the second series and the most recent, which, again offers surprises and shocks with every episode.

The first season saw AC12 and its new chief tenaciously peeling away the whiter-than-white reputation of a top DCI whose squad continually delivers the best crime figures.

Season two focused on the aftermath of a police convoy ambush that left three police officers dead.

In season three Daniel Mays, always watchable and always in a complex role, is the latest possibly-bent copper to step into the spotlight.

He’s the leader of a police Armed Response Unit whose unpredictable behaviour is becoming a threat to both colleagues and suspects.

Initial investigations lead to an undercover assignment, and as the story twists and turns there are links to AC12’s own past.

David Knights