The six police dramas that are better than Line of Duty

The long-awaited announcement that Jed Mercurio’s police corruption saga, Line of Duty , is to return for its first series since 2021 has been greeted with the sort of feverish excitement usually reserved for papal successions or Oasis reunions. That, despite the disappointing revelation that the long-teased identity of “H” – arguably the show’s ultimate raison d’etre – was an insignificant character. Long before this anticlimactic reveal, however, there was a sense that the acronym-heavy drama had been going around in repetitive circles.

Yes, the early series of Line of Duty were fresh and undeniably exciting, but you’d almost think that it was unequalled among police dramas. And never mind such American classics as Hill Street Blues , NYPD Blue, The Shield and The Wire – o