This week, I am discussing Line of Duty (BBC) and how the program uses research to create realism. The show is drama series based upon “AC-12, a controversial police anti-corruption unit” (BBC, 2017). Due to police drama being a “crowded genre”, creator Jed Mercurio wanted to create something about “the dark underbelly of policing” as it was something unseen (Jed Mercurio, BBC Blog, 2012). Before the release of the series, The Guardian’s Mark Lawson stated “viewers may well fear that there can be nothing left to show or say about the police” (Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 2012).
The opening sequence of S1E01 focuses on a anti-terrorism operation that results in the shooting of an innocent man. This sequence is shown from the perspective of the police, as the audience are made to believe that the officers are going into a life or death situation. Mercurio based this scene upon a real life situation: the death of Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005. De Menezes was wrongfully suspected to be involved in the 7/7 London bombings before being killed two weeks after the attacks. Mercurio stated “I took guts for those firearms officers to enter the tube train. They genuinely believed de Menezes was a suicide bomber. They got within a few feet of him fearing he could blow them to bits, but they did it anyway, to protect the public” (Jed Mercurio, BBC Blog, 2012). This very real story formed the basis of the opening scene and the first series as a whole.
Series 3 looked into blurring the lines of fiction and reality, as it explored “a long-term investigation into historic child sexual exploitation” that involved fictional characters interacting with real-life sex offenders (Benji Wilson, The Telegraph, 2016). The characters (an MP and police chief) were shown alongside Jimmy Saville in a photograph, providing audiences with a lump in the throat feeling. According to Mercurio, “showing this particular individual is pertinent because it raises a very particular question about the relationship between police and Savile. The fact is that Jimmy Savile bragged of his close relationships with officers. He even, according to a piece I read in the Telegraph a few years ago, would threaten junior officers with his close relationship with their bosses” (Benji Wilson, The Telegraph, 2016). Whilst the series is fictional, it is described as “social realist” by its creator. He successfully uses researched aspects from real life to create something not seen before from a police drama.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00yzlr0
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/cdcb3c01-b8ad-3df4-b118-eb312545e2b9
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/04/27/jed-mercurio-line-of-duty-interview/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/26/line-of-duty-police-drama-bbc
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/jun/20/line-of-duty-jed-mercurio
An Adventure In Media 