To Catch a Copper: The ‘real-life Line of Duty’ exposes shocking and disturbing misconduct by police on the beat
Irish Independent says For six seasons, Jed Mercurio’s smash-hit thriller series Line of Duty had viewers in the palm of its hand… at least up until that much-maligned finale.
We were riveted by the anti-corruption unit AC-12’s attempts to unravel a vast conspiracy that led from the bottom of the criminal swamp to the highest echelons of the police force. The series became Sunday night appointment viewing.
There were shock deaths, jaw-dropping twists of the “I didn’t see that coming” variety and, at the top of the fetid heap, a bent copper — or maybe more than one bent copper — known only by the codename “H”.
New three-part documentary series To Catch a Copper (Channel 4, Monday; all episodes streaming on channel4.com) was apparently pitched by its creators, Hugo Pettitt and Ashley Francis-Roy, as a real-life Line of Duty.
What broadcaster could resist such a tantalising offer? The higher-ups in Avon and Somerset police force were just as enthusiastic, agreeing to let the filmmakers have complete access to the work of the professional standards department and counter-corruption unit.