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» » Line of Duty Episode #1.1 (2012– )

Short summary

After a bungled raid which kills an innocent man young DS Steve Arnott faces disgrace. However he is transferred to the anti-corruption squad, whose head, superintendent Ted Hastings, gives him a "very special case" to investigate - DCI Tony Gates, recently awarded a medal for heroic conduct but with a suspiciously high arrest rate. Hastings tries to get Gates on minor bribery charges, in vain, and is unaware that the married Gates has covered up a fatal hit-and-run by his lover, businesswoman Jackie Laverty. Meanwhile DC Kate Fleming joins Gates's team and tells Steve she is investigating him from the inside following the deaths of two drug dealers.

A Disastrous Affair is the first episode of Line of Duty which was first broadcast on the BBC channel, BBC Two on the 26 June 2012.

First appearance of Cottan, played by Craig Parkinson.

First appearance of Kate Fleming, played by Vicky McClure.

First appearance of Steve Arnott, played by Martin Compston.

First appearance of Ted Hastings, played by Adrian Dunbar.

First appearance of Derek Hilton, played by Paul Higgins.

This episode was also released under the title "A Disastrous Affair".

First appearance of Morton, played by Neil Morrissey.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Rivik
    A young sergeant in counter terrorism reacts to a terrorist threat and orders the shooting of an innocent man. His boss orders everyone to cover up at the inquest but the sergeant refuses to do so and is told by his boss his career is ended.

    He doesn't lose his job but moves to a department AC12 which investigates Police corruption.

    Switch to a scene of a senior detective who we later find out to be married talking to a girl in a café in a very friendly manner. He spots two muggers attacking a woman with pram and goes to their aid arresting the two suspects.

    Turns out he (Lennie James) is copper of the year with a huge crime clear up rate.

    Receiving a phone call from the girl in the café (Gina McKee) who is drunk and has hit a dog with her car, he covers it up by faking a break in and theft of the keys.

    Turns out his mistress? Hit a man and killed him. He meets her and tells her to come clean but she doesn't.

    AC12 uses a minor infraction to start investigating the copper (Lennie James) but quickly expands the remit for 'laddering' or increasing crime clear up figures by adding lots of charges to the cases.

    Ds Arnott (Martin Compston) learns of another AC 12 operative inside Gates's team.

    Having been really upset about his mistress Jackie not telling the truth and confessing he later turns up at her house and some canuddling takes place.So much for the anger.

    Gates's team messes up on surveillance on another case and two men get killed

    In a heartbeat we flash to Gates talking to an incredible thick civilian worker explaining they found out who the hit and run victim was, and he is the accountant for Gates's mistress' firm.

    He deletes the links on the file whilst DS Arnott is viewing the same case.

    It's OK to watch but there are many things wrong with it.

    Too many sub-plots Things are skipped over Zero character depth apart from maybe DS Gates (Lennie James). Far too many stereotypes

    If the intention is that we root for AC12 then it fails - personally I found DS Gates to be exactly the type of copper you might want, because even if he does 'ladder' as sanctioned by his boss, he seems to get the job done within the law. As a human being he obviously lacks due to the mistress angle, however the first episode portrays his choice to delete the files as difficult.

    If he was a totally bent copper he would not have hesitated.

    At this stage the only character with any viewer engagement has to be Lennie James as DS Gates

    pston
  • comment
    • Author: Monn
    The cop they're going after doesn't seem so bad, but he is trapped in a compromising situation. The main characters in the show have nothing that draws us to side with them. Their white boss even says at one point "No one is blacker than me!", which I suppose is a reference to having suffered from prejudice for being Irish, but comes across as hubris. I want the good guys to lose and the "bad guy" to win, but I didn't care enough to keep watching after the 1st episode of season 2 to be honest. I really don't understand how this show has such a good score on the IMDB. I'll take Endeavour over this any day. This show just comes across as pure self-righteousness. There were so many situations where I found myself just saying to the the screen, "Oh come on, this is absurd." I understand why some people say that the main characters are miscast.
  • Episode cast overview, first billed only:
    Martin Compston Martin Compston - Steve Arnott
    Darren Morfitt Darren Morfitt - Sergeant Colin Brackley
    Owen Teale Owen Teale - Chief Inspector Osborne
    Elizabeth Hill Elizabeth Hill - Aaliyah Ali's Solicitor
    Neal Foster Neal Foster - Coroner
    Adrian Dunbar Adrian Dunbar - Ted Hastings
    Lennie James Lennie James - Gates
    Gina McKee Gina McKee - Jackie
    Elisa Lasowski Elisa Lasowski - Nadzia Wojcik
    Martin Buchan Martin Buchan - Chief Constable
    Neil Morrissey Neil Morrissey - Morton
    Craig Parkinson Craig Parkinson - Cottan
    Faraz Ayub Faraz Ayub - DC Deepak Kapoor
    Paul Higgins Paul Higgins - Derek Hilton
    Jordyn-Eve Davis Greene Jordyn-Eve Davis Greene - Natalie Tate
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