List of Line of Duty episodes
# List of Line of Duty episodes

Line of Duty is a British BBC police procedural television series created by Jed Mercurio. Initially, broadcast began on BBC Two, starting on 26 June 2012. The fourth series broadcast began on 26 March 2017 on BBC One. The stories feature the Anti-Corruption Unit 12 (AC-12) led by Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar). Set within the fictional Central Police Force it focuses on the activities of two senior AC-12 officers, Detective Inspector Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) and Detective Inspector Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure).

## Series overview

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally aired | Originally aired | Originally aired | Average viewership (in millions) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First aired | Last aired | Network | Average viewership (in millions) |
| 1 | 5 | 5 | 26 June 2012 (2012-06-26) | 24 July 2012 (2012-07-24) | BBC Two | 3.80 |
| 2 | 6 | 6 | 12 February 2014 (2014-02-12) | 19 March 2014 (2014-03-19) | BBC Two | 3.43 |
| 3 | 6 | 6 | 24 March 2016 (2016-03-24) | 28 April 2016 (2016-04-28) | BBC Two | 5.42 |
| 4 | 6 | 6 | 26 March 2017 (2017-03-26) | 30 April 2017 (2017-04-30) | BBC One | 9.55 |
| 5 | 6 | 6 | 31 March 2019 (2019-03-31) | 5 May 2019 (2019-05-05) | BBC One | 12.85 |
| 6 | 7 | 7 | 21 March 2021 (2021-03-21) | 2 May 2021 (2021-05-02) | BBC One | 15.39 |

* ↑ Series 1-2 based on 7 day data. Series 3-6 based on 28 day data.

### Series 1 (2012)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | "Episode 1" | David Caffrey | 26 June 2012 (2012-06-26) | 3.76 |
| 2 | 2 | "Episode 2" | David Caffrey | 3 July 2012 (2012-07-03) | 3.84 |
| 3 | 3 | "Episode 3" | David Caffrey | 10 July 2012 (2012-07-10) | 3.80 |
| 4 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Douglas Mackinnon | 17 July 2012 (2012-07-17) | 3.87 |
| 5 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Douglas Mackinnon | 24 July 2012 (2012-07-24) | 3.72 |

### Series 2 (2014)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 6 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Douglas Mackinnon | 12 February 2014 (2014-02-12) | 2.74 |
| 7 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Douglas Mackinnon | 19 February 2014 (2014-02-19) | 3.21 |
| 8 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Douglas Mackinnon | 26 February 2014 (2014-02-26) | 3.34 |
| 9 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Daniel Nettheim | 5 March 2014 (2014-03-05) | 3.46 |
| 10 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Daniel Nettheim | 12 March 2014 (2014-03-12) | 3.73 |
| 11 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Daniel Nettheim | 19 March 2014 (2014-03-19) | 4.12 |

### Series 3 (2016)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 12 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Michael Keillor | 24 March 2016 (2016-03-24) | 3.54 |
| 13 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Michael Keillor | 31 March 2016 (2016-03-31) | 6.02 |
| 14 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Michael Keillor | 7 April 2016 (2016-04-07) | 5.73 |
| 15 | 4 | "Episode 4" | John Strickland | 14 April 2016 (2016-04-14) | 5.55 |
| 16 | 5 | "Episode 5" | John Strickland | 21 April 2016 (2016-04-21) | 5.72 |
| 17 | 6 | "Episode 6" | John Strickland | 28 April 2016 (2016-04-28) | 5.93 |

### Series 4 (2017)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 18 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Jed Mercurio | 26 March 2017 (2017-03-26) | 9.21 |
| 19 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Jed Mercurio | 2 April 2017 (2017-04-02) | 9.04 |
| 20 | 3 | "Episode 3" | John Strickland | 9 April 2017 (2017-04-09) | 9.05 |
| 21 | 4 | "Episode 4" | John Strickland | 16 April 2017 (2017-04-16) | 9.60 |
| 22 | 5 | "Episode 5" | John Strickland | 23 April 2017 (2017-04-23) | 9.98 |
| 23 | 6 | "Episode 6" | John Strickland | 30 April 2017 (2017-04-30) | 10.40 |

### Series 5 (2019)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 24 | 1 | "Episode 1" | John Strickland | Jed Mercurio | 31 March 2019 (2019-03-31) | 13.20 |
| 25 | 2 | "Episode 2" | John Strickland | Jed Mercurio | 7 April 2019 (2019-04-07) | 12.43 |
| 26 | 3 | "Episode 3" | John Strickland | Jed Mercurio | 14 April 2019 (2019-04-14) | 12.59 |
| 27 | 4 | "Episode 4" | John Strickland | Jed Mercurio | 21 April 2019 (2019-04-21) | 12.34 |
| 28 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Sue Tully | Jed Mercurio | 28 April 2019 (2019-04-28) | 12.91 |
| 29 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Sue Tully | Jed Mercurio | 5 May 2019 (2019-05-05) | 13.67 |

### Series 6 (2021)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 30 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Daniel Nettheim | Jed Mercurio | 21 March 2021 (2021-03-21) | 15.20 |
| 31 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Daniel Nettheim | Jed Mercurio | 28 March 2021 (2021-03-28) | 14.53 |
| 32 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Gareth Bryn | Jed Mercurio | 4 April 2021 (2021-04-04) | 14.82 |
| 33 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Gareth Bryn | Jed Mercurio | 11 April 2021 (2021-04-11) | 15.33 |
| 34 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Jennie Darnell | Jed Mercurio | 18 April 2021 (2021-04-18) | 15.10 |
| 35 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Jennie Darnell | Jed Mercurio | 25 April 2021 (2021-04-25) | 16.28 |
| 36 | 7 | "Episode 7" | Jennie Darnell | Jed Mercurio | 2 May 2021 (2021-05-02) | 16.44 |

## Ratings

| Series | Series | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Average |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Series | Series | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Average |
| | 1 | 3.76 | 3.84 | 3.80 | 3.87 | 3.72 | – | – | 3.48 |
| | 2 | 2.74 | 3.21 | 3.34 | 3.46 | 3.73 | 4.12 | – | 3.43 |
| | 3 | 3.54 | 6.02 | 5.73 | 5.55 | 5.72 | 5.93 | – | 5.42 |
| | 4 | 9.21 | 9.04 | 9.05 | 9.60 | 9.98 | 10.40 | – | 9.55 |
| | 5 | 13.20 | 12.43 | 12.59 | 12.34 | 12.91 | 13.67 | – | 12.85 |
| | 6 | 15.20 | 14.53 | 14.82 | 15.33 | 15.10 | 16.28 | 16.44 | 15.39 |
