Line Of Duty seems familiar? Heres why

In 2012 UK audiences awoke to the world of Line of Duty, what initially was a one series wonder turned into a massive franchise that has spread until the present selling across the world. The series surrounds The Dirty world of corrupt police officers. headed up by Martin Compston playing Steve Arnott, Vicky McClure who plays Kate Fleming and Adrian Dunbar who plays Ted Hastings each series sees Fleming ,Arnott and Hastings tackling a brand new series of police officers and detectives who need investigation for failures of judgement or committing atrocious crimes. This slow burn thriller from the BBC has been slowly growing audiences with each new series, but the BBC is no stranger to this sort of drama and it’s been perfecting the art for many years, while Line of Duty has been praised for its accuracy and grittiness you have to go back to 1992 to see something far more sinister.

In 1992 the BBC created the series Between the Lines the series ran for three years and was known for its tough handling of cultural issues, for while it tackled internal complaints against the police it also handled topical and cultural issues of the day. Created by J.C. Wilsher who at the time was relatively unknown has gone on to write for some of the most prominent British TV series including Death in Paradise, Murder in Mind, Torchwood and Silent Witness.

Starring Neil Pearson as Detective Superintendent Tony Clark, the series begins with Clark being unwittingly pulled into the complaint’s investigation Bureau. Initially recruited to help out in one level of corruption at his local police station, Clark finds himself recruited under the premise that once exposed as “a grass” there is no turning back. Neil Pearson is joined by Siobhan Redmond and Tom Georgeson as Maureen and Harry respectively, a pair of seasons professionals with many years work under their belt exposing corrupt police officers.

While the series is 30 years old and as a result fashions have obviously changed, the stories, scenarios and cultural concerns still remain. This somehow seems all the more appropriate in a year where everything we knew and believed has been changed, and that corruption has been exposed all over the world. More alarmingly situations like the death of George Floyd sit well in Between the Lines storylines.

While the series only ran for three years it soon became a mainstay of weeknights on BBC One and had an ever-growing number a British stars queuing up to be part of the action. This includes Jerome Flynn, Pete Postlethwaite, James Nesbitt, Ray Winston, Michael Kitchen and Ciaran Hinds.

Where Between The Lines succeeds that Line Of Duty fails is in the backstories, Between The Lines manages to seamlessly tell the story of the trios home lives, where Line Of Duty scuffs around the edges of domestic lives, Between The Lines hits front and centre. In particular focussing around Harry, who having to work on highly demanding cases during the day then has to go home and care for his wife who is suffering a debilitating disease and at varied points Harry must consider opportunities of Euthanasia, regardless of its illegal nature. As you see the series is hitting hard on the very things we concern ourselves with in 2021, but this was three decades earlier when by and large these illnesses were just “accepted”. Meanwhile Maureen a focus of hatred in the police force is also a lesbian in a time Lesbians were not accepted in the force and Tony Clarke sees the demise of his marriage and exposure to the “dating scene” two decades after he last dated.

The other strength is in its self-contained stories, Line Of Duty runs one story for 6 episodes, Between The Lines runs a story for one episode, with the linking factors being career progression and personal lives. Each episode has a start, middle and end with no stories carrying through from one series to the next, allowing viewers to drop in and out without missing major aspects of a story arc.

Between The Lines is frighteningly realistic, with long exposure to crime scenes and portrayal of brutal murders. And while the language of the day for the BBC is fairly typical with only the tamest of swear words, the imagery and scenarios would ultimately come with trigger warnings if shown on prime television networks now. Once you have discarded the fashion, which at times is borderline hysterical now, every aspect of Between The Lines is as fresh now as it was three decades ago, possibly even more so that Line Of Duty.