Live TV viewership numbers may be down, but in the United Kingdom,
Line of Duty was appointment TV this spring. When the electrifying police drama’s sixth-season finale aired in May, it became the most-watched, non-soap drama episode over there in 20 years, attracting 12.8 million viewers and a whopping 56.2 percent of the TV audience for the BBC.
The show’s creator and writer, Jed Mercurio, has hit ratings highs before. An episode of his edge-of-your-seat thriller
Bodyguard (which aired on Netflix in the U.S. and earned Mercurio an Emmy nomination) drew 10.4 million viewers in the U.K. in 2018.
Although
Line of Duty hasn’t exploded with the same velocity in this country, past seasons have become a bingeable pleasure on numerous streaming sites (Prime Video, Hulu, Acorn, BritBox), and beginning Tuesday, May 18, BritBox will release Season 6 in weekly installments.