A ST PATRICK’S DAY social media post showing Line of Duty stars Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar enjoying a pint in a pub, fuelled rumours that a Line of Duty re-run announcement is due anytime. KEIRA O’CALLAGHAN, The Irish Post's SHOWBIZ columnist, looks at the whole genre of badge-noir crime dramas
CRIME doesn’t pay. Unless, of course, you write for TV, and then it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Ever since George Dixon of Dock Green bid us his first ‘evening all’ in 1955, cop shows have proved to be TV gold. The morals of the earliest shows were clear-cut – police good, criminals bad – but over the years, the areas became greyer. Many villains came to be seen as victims of their circumstances, and by the time The Wire came along in 2002 we simply didn’t know who to root for. It’s also become de rigeuer for cops to be flawed and troubled; if PC Dixon returned today we’d probably find him in a grotty flat littered with empty vodka bottles while he navigated a messy divorce.
Indeed, it's swung so far the other way that many series simply focus on the criminals. Having no alternative outlet for our sympathies, we find ourselves backing the killers, felons and drug dealers, especially if they happen to have finely sculpted cheekbones; who didn’t breathe a sigh of relief when Tommy emerged unscathed at the end of Peaky Blinders?
As our obsession with TV crime doesn’t seem to be going anywhere fast, let’s take a look at the best of the recent crop of Irish-made dramas, and mull over the likelihood of them returning to our screens.
THE BLUE LIGHTS SQUAD Stevie Neil (Martin McCann), Grace Ellis (Siân Brooke), Annie Conlon (Katherine Devlin), Tommy Foster (Nathan Braniff) image courtesy of BBC/Two Cities Television/Todd AntonyDEFINITELY RETURNING CATEGORY
Blue Lights
Not only has the third series of Blue Lights been given the green light, but it’s already been filmed; a fourth season has also been renewed. Probably to be screened late 2025.
What’s it about? A group of rookie peelers have their work cut out fighting organised crime and quelling loyalist feuds. There’s that, then there’s the fact that as this is modern-day Belfast, nobody likes them.
Why do we want more? As well as being gripping, intelligently plotted, funny and well-acted, Blue Lights shines a cliché-free light on contemporary Belfast without being thuddingly political about it.
Cops or crims? Our sympathies are fully with the cops. In this show, unlike Love/Hate, nobody expects us to care whether the murderous drug-peddling gangsters live or die.
LOOKING GOOD CATEGORY
Line of Duty
It’s no secret that stars Adrian Dunbar, Martin Compston and Vicky McClure are well up for another season. “We want it to happen, everyone wants it to happen, so let's make it happen”, Adrian said bullishly last November, and recent rumours seem to suggest that the cast have been consulted about their availability this year.
What’s it about? In each new series, the dogged anti-corruption team at AC12 try to work out whether the latest guest-star cop is on the level or on the take. Each series’ arc adds to the overriding mystery that has haunted us since the beginning: who is the corrupt officer known as H?=
The show is famed both for Ted Hastings’ legendary catchphrases and its acronym-packed dialogue. If AC12 issues a Reg 15 to an AWOL UCO DI with a OCG who took out three AFOs during the ED905 heist involving a HGV with a RTC, you’d better believe it’ll turn out to be Sit Rep intel suppressed by MOPI; 10-4?
Why do we want it back? They need to sort out that lame twist at the end of series six that pleased exactly nobody. Also, please can Anna Maxwell Martin return as supercilious DCS Patricia Carmichael? And also also, could she be H??
Cops or crims? It’s all about the cops, until they turn out to be crims. Fortunately, thus far our main trio seem to be incorruptible; we’re not sure the nation’s heart could take it if Ted Hastings, the arch nemesis of bent coppers, turned out to be one of them.
THE SPIRIT IS WILLING
Kin
Kin had a starry cast including Aidan Gillen, Charlie Cox, Claire Dunne and Emmett J Scanlan. The problem with starry casts is that they tend to get snapped up for other projects, making it tricky to corral them once again at the same time on the same set. There’s also the inconvenient problem that the show’s production company, Bron Studios, has gone bust.
However, Emmett earlier this year threw the hopeful bone that there’s "a lot of interest" for season three. Could there even be a bidding war underway?
What’s it all about? Dublin’s criminal Kinsella family find themselves at war with a powerful drug cartel.
Some of the elements are rather familiar, and we’re not just referring to Love/Hate. You see, there’s that one hot-headed son, played by James Caan Sam Keeley, and a quieter (yet quietly deadly) one played by Al Pacino Charlie Cox, who thought he was out until they pulled him back in. Then there’s the season one finale, which juxtaposes scenes showing the elimination of the Kinsella’s enemies with a church ceremony. But it’s probably just a coincidence.
Why do we want it back? Who didn’t love The Godfather?
Cops or crims? Crims this time.
ALMOST DEFINITELY NOT HAPPENING
Love/Hate
“Love/Hate set to return to screens next year!’ screamed the headlines earlier this year – precipitously, as it turned out.
It was all the fault of actor John Connors who played Traveller Patrick Ward in the series. Asked on The Six O'Clock Show whether there’d be a sixth season, John said: "Yes it is coming back. Hand on my heart, it’s going ahead again”.
Well, RTÉ shot that down immediately. "There are no plans for a new series of Love/Hate. Fans can watch all five series on RTÉ́ Player", it said, stiffly.
Next, John insisted that a new series would be going ahead, just not on RTÉ. “It's on Netflix. They're bringing it back a bit like what they did with Top Boy,” he said.
Netflix insiders confirmed that there is “no truth at all” in John’s statement
John’s last word on the matter? Well, "I only confirmed myself coming back so far", he admitted.
Love/Hate fans onTikTok have since taken serious umbrage with John, calling him “a lying jippo”.
What was Love/Hate about? Visiting parts of Dublin the Irish Tourist Board would rather you didn’t, chronicling the ups and downs of inner-city gangsters, Love/Hate was one of the standout shows of the Noughties, introduced us to a bunch of stellar fresh acting talent in the process, and managed to do all of this without once ripping off The Godfather.
Why do we want it back? We need to check if Nidge is really dead.
Cops or crims? Crims, but at least most of them were pretty; indeed, the casual viewer may have imagined themselves to be watching an unusually violent Westlife video. Season five also featured a kid named Barry Keoghan. Wonder what became of him.
