Line of Duty season 6, BBC: release date, pictures, plot, cast

This is also when Line of Duty will make its craved, acronymous return, following a six-month delay because of lockdown. And it’s coming sooner than you think. Here’s everything we know.


Photo: BBC

What's the Line of Duty season 6 plot?

Unfortunately, nobody outside of AC-12 really knows the plot details for the next season. But trusting the usual format, subverted slightly in season five, the sixth season follows the takedown of another bent copper.

This time it's DCI Joanne Davidson, the senior investigating officer of an unsolved murder. She exhibits some unconventional behaviour, which, naturally, grabs the attention of Superintendent Ted Hastings, DI Kate Fleming and DS Steve Arnott of AC-12. Line of Duty’s writer/creator Jed Mercurio has claimed Davidson to be ‘the most enigmatic adversary AC-12 have ever faced’.

We can guess that season six will examine the enigmatic twist that concluded season five (spoilers ahead!). After a lot of interior suspicion and investigation, especially of Hastings, the mysterious identity of ‘H’ has been splintered into four corrupt coppers. But which four? Have we seen them before?

The BBC also announced, in a special memo by Ted Hastings himself, that this season is the longest to date: extending to seven episodes.

Photo: BBC

Who's in the Line of Duty season 6 cast?

Adrian Dunbar, Martin Compston and Vicky McClure return to play the core AC-12 team. Shalom Brune-Franklin also joins them, playing the new recruit DC Chloe Bishop.

The excellent Kelly Macdonald is playing the potentially corrupt DCI Joanne Davidson. Macdonald has starred in a number of shows and movies, but she's recurred in many crime dramas. Since her 1996 debut in Trainspotting, she's had significant roles in No Country For Old Men, Boardwalk Empire, The Victim and Giri/Haji. Line of Duty is lucky to have her.

This season also stars Andi Osho (I May Destroy You), Prasanna Puwanarajah (Patrick Melrose), and Perry Fitzpatrick (Downton Abbey, This is England '86).

What's the Line of Duty season 6 release date?

Season six will start on Sunday 21 March at 9pm on BBC One.