Line of Duty and Undercover, Crime Drama that is Suspenseful, Believable and Deals with Poignant Issues

So my post today will be talking about two brilliant dramas that are gracing our TV screens at the moment. As other critics across publications have said British drama is on a winning streak at the moment, from Call the Midwife to the Night Manager, A Word or Thirteen there is quality drama across the BBC. Currently two of the most powerful and nail biting series on are crime dramas Line of Duty and Undercover. Both showcase a first class acting, intriguing plots and the ability to provoke the public’s moral conscience; therefore I thought I’d share my thoughts on them.

Firstly Line of Duty, the internal police crime drama based around anti -corruption investigations is in its third series and right from the off we have had surprises; usually in the plots of Line of Duty it centres on Anti-Corruption Unit 12 (AC12) investigating and trying to catch a corrupt police officer. However writer Jed Mercurio has changed things up a bit this series as the ‘bent copper’ in question was killed off in the second episode; because of this the series couldn’t develop how others have done in the past allowing for a much more multi stranded plot.

AC-12

For a couple of weeks we played a game of guess who bumped off Danny Waldron(Daniel Mays)? As his three fellow arms squad members were put under questioning by AC12 however after one was killed off and the second confessed all that mystery was wrapped up but masterfully led to another who ordered the murder? That question remains unanswered however the audience do know who organised it non other than AC12 DI Matthew ‘Dot’ Cottan. By already telling the audience who is the real guilty party it is frustrating as a viewer to see Cottan gain a commendation from supposedly capturing Danny’s murder Hari when in fact Hari’s actions were ordered by Cottan who then tricked him into capture. It is this suspense, waiting to see who will figure out what we the audience already know that makes the programme all the more exciting.

Hari killed Danny in episode 2 but who ordered it?

Dodgy 'Dot' Cottan

The third series has provided even more intrigue in how it has tied in links from its predecessor. The end of episode 3 we saw previously convicted police offer DI Lindsay Denton (Keeley Hawes) let free. Criminal Tommy Hunter featured on Danny’s ominous list of abusers and interviews have been conducted with previous police inspector Nigel Morton (Neil Morrissey).

The whole series has been nail biting stuff but episode five stood out to me as the most powerful in the series to date. From the start it has been inferred Danny was abused as a child at a children’s home, after it is discovered he killed one of those abusers, AC12 investigated this further leading to them suspecting a high profile paedophile ring. In a an interview with a former Chief Super Intendant  in relation to this a picture is show of a fictional politician, the Chief Super being interviewed and real life celebrity and paedophile Jimmy Saville. I thought the decision to include this was as other people have said, brave. I wold also say successfully executed. Line of Duty is very much a real world drama and so far the programme had dealt with the issue in a very real life way. From Joe’s (Jonas Armstrong) devastating reaction to questioning about his abusers to the investigating teams drive to find who did this. The photo of Saville really brought home the idea that something like this could be plausible. Overall the drama has handled a sensitive and still very current topic with tasteful sensitivity and purpose.

The episode featured a fictional photo featuring Jimmiy Saville a brave move by the programme

However that wasn’t the only big shock of the penultimate episode. On finding we also witnessed the demise of Lindsay Denton who was shot dead by non-other than Cottan. However she didn’t go out without a bang, first sending the list of abusers to AC12 leader Super Intendant Hastings and (we hope) landing dodgy Dot Cottan in it. The latter of which seems uncertain, with Cottan shooting Denton in fellow AC12 officer Steve Arnott’s car and wiping the gun. As an optimist I would bet, despite his attempt at a set -up there will be some genetic evidence to plant Cottan at the scene, perhaps a hair or gun residue?  My other wild card guess is fellow AC DS Kate Fleming has known Dot was dodgy from the start and went to seek authorisation on an undercover operation to catch him! This seems plausible as there is always something they don’t show you up front in Line of Duty. All will be revealed in the final part this coming week. If week five was anything to go by I am sure it will be a hair raising affair!

As well as Line of Duty Sunday nights serve us with more intriguing drama with Undercover. The series tells the story of Maya Cobbina and Nick Johnson; Maya is a defence lawyer who has been headhunted for the job of Head of Public Prosecutions which she uses to right a miscarriage of justice from twenty years ago without realising her husband was an undercover officer on the side of the law.  I have found the series so far both thought provoking and educational. According to other articles Undercover is based in real life facts, there have actually been cases of women marrying or having children with an undercover police officer and they only learn some 10-20 years later the true identity of their partner. This makes Undercover all the more chilling. It is clear this is an area that is not well publicised and it almost inconceivable to imagine now someone would feel discovering such a fact. It is clear Nicks reveal to Maya will be a highly emotional exchange.

Maya and Nick in Undercover

From the second episode onward the action is split between 1996 and the present day. The flashbacks tell the story of Michael Antwi his death of which tied Maya and Nick together. In the 90’s Maya was part of a political activist group led by Antwi campaigning for an end to discrimination to black people by the police. Nick, not his real identity is recruited onto an undercover operation to get close to Michal. At a protest march Antwi and his followers are set upon by skin head thugs, while the police stand back and let the carnage unfold. Antwi is eventually arrested along with others including Nick who is later set free. The protest scenes resembled something you imagine happening in America in the 1950’s.

Later we see a skinhead thug put into Antwi’s cell. From this point on there is a strong sense of foreboding doom for Antwi, we know he will die. The bludgeoning that unfolds is evocative of that in Shane Meadows This is England with the action similarly visceral.  However the most shocking thing to me as a young woman who grew up for the most part in the 21st century was how the police practically engineered his death, I had no idea that life was so tough for black people in the year I was born.

In episode three Maya’s friend a black journalist working for a tabloid paper gets set up into putting her name to a deeply racist report on Antwi’s murder. In turn showing it was not just the police who were unjust to people of colour in 96’ but many facets of society. Like I have said I never realised there was so much racial tension in such recent history, it’s definitely a largely unmentioned part of history so it is kudos to Undercover for making a generation of people aware of a largely forgotten part of our history.   

However the programme shows the police weren’t only unfair to black people. Nicks previous

operation to the Antwi case is a drugs bust; he is not the only OC officer another woman called Abigail Strickland is also on operation, posing as the girlfriend of the gang leader. However as part of the operation she has unavoidably got addicted to heroin resulting in her losing her job (coincidentally she is sacked the day of the Antwi murder). It amazed me that the police would let someone do that much damaged to herself on their behalf and then sack her without any support. It makes you wonder how much has changed today. Furthermore in the modern day she is actually murdered by Nick’s handler as she prepares to meet Maya to confess the truth of Antwi’s death, which she witnessed. The discourse from this is Nick tipped off the name of the witness to the police and obviously hasn’t told Maya.

You can feel the reveal of this web of lies and falsehoods that have being woven will destroy Maya beyond repair. The build-up of tension between the two lead characters has been executed superbly, coupled with quality acting, Sophie Okonedo and Adrian Lester are both brilliant. Undercover is perhaps one of the bravest dramas on TV at the moment; dealing with a story that shines light on one of the murkiest parts of the police service. It is immensely powerful and meaningful. Keep up the good work BBC!