Line of Duty series 2

The second series of the British police procedural television programme Line of Duty was broadcast on BBC Two between 12 February and 19 March 2014.

The series follows the actions of the fictional Anti-Corruption Unit 12. AC-12 is led by Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), who is assisted by his team DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston), DC Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure), and DI Matthew "Dot" Cottan (Craig Parkinson). The unit investigates DI Lindsay Denton (Keely Hawes), the sole survivor of an attack on police officers, and the possibility of a corrupt police officer conspiring to murder a protected witness in the ambush. Jessica Raine stars in a single episode as DC Georgia Trotman. Beginning with this series, Dunbar and Parkinson are credited as main cast members in the opening credits. Supporting characters include DCC Mike Dryden (Mark Bonnar), Jo Dwyer (Liz White), DCS Lester Hargreaves (Tony Pitts), DC Nigel Morton (Neil Morrissey), and Tommy Hunter (Brian McCardie).

The series was created and written by Jed Mercurio, who also serves as an executive producer. Filming took place in Belfast in 2013. Six episodes were directed by Douglas Mackinnon and Daniel Nettheim with cinematographer Ruairi O'Brien. The series received positive reviews and multiple accolades, most notably for Hawes's performance as Denton, leading to the commission of a third and fourth series.

Main

 * Keeley Hawes as DI Lindsay Denton
 * Martin Compston as DS Steve Arnott
 * Vicky McClure as DC Kate Fleming
 * Adrian Dunbar as Superintendent Ted Hastings
 * Jessica Raine as DC Georgia Trotman
 * Craig Parkinson as DI Matthew "Dot" Cottan

Starring

 * Mark Bonnar as DCC Mike Dryden
 * Liz White as Jo Dwyer
 * Tony Pitts as DCS Lester Hargreaves
 * Neil Morrissey as DC Nigel Morton
 * Brian McCardie as Tommy Hunter

Recurring

 * Steve Toussaint as Chief Superintendent Raymond Mallick
 * Andrea Irvine as Roisin Hastings
 * Henry Pettigrew as DC Jeremy Cole
 * Michael Nardone as Sergeant O'Neill
 * Niall Macgregor as Richard Akers
 * Richard Huw as Nick Ronson, Evening Post journalist
 * Christina Chong as DS Nicola Rogerson
 * Sacha Dhawan as DS Manish Prasad
 * Charlotte Spencer as Carly Kirk

Guest

 * Allison McKenzie as DS Jayne Akers
 * David Maybrick as Sergeant Alex Wallis
 * Antonio Magro as PC Vincent Butler

Production
On 25 July 2012, the day after the first series had concluded, BBC Two commissioned a second series of Line of Duty from World Productions. Creator Jed Mercurio wrote the series's episodes and executive produced it alongside Simon Heath for World Productions and Stephen Wright for BBC Northern Ireland. Peter Norris produced the series.

Actors Martin Compston and Vicky McClure returned from the first series. Adrian Dunbar also returned to the series and was promoted to the main cast. Craig Parkinson reprised his role beginning in episode three. Keely Hawes, Robert Lindsay, and Jessica Raine were announced as new members of the cast. Lindsay departed from the series after two days of filming due to "creative differences" and was later replaced by Mark Bonnar. Hawes stated that when she first received the script Mercurio had not yet decided if her character would actually be a corrupt police officer. Supporting cast members include Neil Morrissey, Brian McCardie, and Tony Pitts.

For the second series filming moved to Belfast and began in mid-2013. The six hour-long episodes were split into two filming blocks with Douglas Mackinnon returning to direct the first block of episodes and Daniel Nettheim directing the second. Ruairi O'Brien also returned as the series's Director of Photography. The headquarters of Invest Northern Ireland doubled as Anti-Corruption Unit 12's office building, while the exterior of Belfast Central Library served as the police headquarters façade. One scene filmed with McClure, Compston, and Bonnar covered 18 pages of a script. Due to the success of the second series a third and fourth series were commissioned in April 2014.

Broadcast and streaming
The series was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two beginning 12 February 2014 and concluding six weeks later on 19 March. Some episodes also aired on BBC Two HD. In the United States the series is available to stream on Acorn TV, BritBox, and Hulu. It was also broadcast on the American basic cable channel AMC beginning 9 May 2020. In Canda and Australia the series streams on Netflix. The series was later re-broadcast on BBC One beginning 6 February 2021 due to COVID-19 filming shutdowns delaying production of the sixth series.

Viewing figures
By the time the third series had concluded airing, Line of Duty was the eighth-highest-rated series to air on BBC Two since 2002. The series maintained a 12.3% share in consolidated data.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the series holds a 100% rating based on five reviews. The Huffington Post's Caroline Frost said that the series opened to a story stronger than that of its predecessor. Reviewing the series premiere for Den of Geek, Louisa Mellor praised Hawes' performance but noted the absence of Lennie James from the first series. Yvonne Roberts from The Guardian also admired the performance of Hawes, writing that the series "smash[ed] gender stereotypes". Rob Smedley of Cult Box mentioned the moral ambiguity between the officers being investigated and AC-12 themselves. Following the series finale Mellor stated that the final episode once again felt rushed. Alex Fletcher, writing for Digital Spy, commended Mercurio's scripts for ending the series on a less-than satisfying resolution. Smedley also applauded the series use of an ensemble cast. During its 2021 re-broadcast on BBC One ahead of the sixth series, The Daily Telegraph's Michael Hogan wrote that this series was Line of Duty at its best. Euan Ferguson later ranked the series number one on The Guardian's "Best British TV dramas of 2014" list.