Line Of Duty releases ‘memo’ from Supt. Ted Hastings announcing new detective

The BBC have released a ‘memorandum to staff’ ahead of the forthcoming sixth season of Line Of Duty, to announce the recruitment of a new team member.

In a document circulated by the press office, the memo mock-up sees Superintendent Ted Hastings – played by recurring star Adrian Dunbar – announce that DC Chloe Bishop (Shalom Brune-Franklin) is joining the department to help with the forthcoming case.

The note reads: ‘MEMORANDUM TO STAFF. DATE: 03/02/2021 .TO: ALL ANTI-CORRUPTION UNIT STAFF. FROM: HASTINGS, TED (SUPERINTENDENT)

‘CC: ARNOTT, STEVE (DETECTIVE SERGEANT); FLEMING, KATE (DETECTIVE INSPECTOR); BISHOP, CHLOE (DETECTIVE CONSTABLE)

‘SUBJECT: IMPORTANT STAFF CHANGES TO AC-12

‘I am writing to inform you that DC Chloe Bishop (Shalom Brune-Franklin) will be joining AC-12 to assist in their important work on a tricky upcoming case. This action will be effective immediately.

‘AC-12’s highest priority will always be capturing bent coppers. With that in mind, we have requested and been granted an extension of an extra episode for our next series, making it our longest yet.

‘This extension ensures we can properly and thoroughly investigate organised criminal activity when we return soon to BBC One and BBC iPlayer for our sixth outing.

‘In the meantime, to see AC-12 sucking diesel, footage from DI Denton’s case will be repeated on BBC One weekly from Saturday 6th February at 9pm.

‘Sincerely, Superintendent Ted Hastings.’

This reiterates the news that there will be a seventh episode added to the sixth season, making it the longest series of the cop drama to date. 

Although an official date is yet to be released, the BBC confirmed it is coming ‘soon’, and released a witty clip featuring show stars Martin Compston and Adrian.

In the teaser, the pair were in full police uniform as they discussed the mysterious ‘Vella’. 

It began with Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott (Compston) telling Superintendent Ted Hastings (Dunbar): ‘Regardless of the personnel involved, Vella’s still the highest-profile inquiry engaging this force.’

Seeming uncertain, Ted replies: ‘I’m gonna need a hell of a lot more before I can authorise a formal inquiry.’

As Steve begins to argue, Ted hits back: ‘Houl yer whisht! I need more.’ 

Steve’s voiceover then quips: ‘How about an extra episode, gaffer?’ pointing to the news that season six will feature seven episodes instead of the typical six.

Filming for series six was suspended back in March 2020, before the cast resumed work in September after a five-month hiatus due to the Covid crisis. 

Although the cast have admitted they struggled working around the new Covid restrictions, they clearly didn’t have an issue coming up with extra material.   

Adrian is returning to the police drama as Superintendent Hastings alongside Martin (DS Arnott) and Vicky McClure (DI Kate Fleming), who are the well-known faces of AC-12, the show’s fictional anti-corruption unit.

The sixth series also sees the debut of Kelly MacDonald as Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson, senior investigating officer of an unsolved murder.

But this series took a slightly different turn than the AC-12 trio expected, as filming and the plot both had to be altered to accommodate Covid-19 regulations.

New safety measures even included the famous glass-walled interrogation room, where the AC-12 trio interrogate suspects in scenes that can take days to film, being altered.  

Previously speaking about the challenges of filming on Lorraine, writer Jed Mercurio admitted the filming process has been ‘tough’ for those involved.

Saying the crew were ‘delighted’ to be able to film the BBC show’s sixth season, Jed explained: ‘It’s been pretty tough to be honest for you.

‘I have to pay tribute to our brilliant cast and crew, we’re diligently wearing masks the whole time, we clean things that are passed from one person to another.’