What to watch after Line of Duty - or while you wait for the next season
Don't know what to watch now AC-12's case has run its course? Perhaps these brilliant crime series can help
Line of Duty series 5 has come to an end, and while that means we can breathe a little easier on Sunday nights, it's tough to know where we'll go next for tortuous interview scenes, creepy coppers and killer corruption.
If you're not sure what to watch next, perhaps these shows can help fill the void?
The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies
Still mourning the death of Timothy Ifield AKA Jason Watkins? Watch his landmark role as the man wrongfully accused of the murder of Bristol woman Joanna Yates. ITV showed it in two parts, but the version on Netflix strips out the ad breaks and turns it into a single feature-length film. Trust us, you won't be able to switch off.
Shadow of Truth
You've been told countless times to watch Making a Murderer, Netflix's true story of murder investigation and slow-burn interrogation scenes. Instead, try Shadow of Truth instead.
The four-part documentary follows the murder of a 13-year-old girl of an Israeli girl in the Golan Heights. A Ukrainian immigrant is eventually charged, but of course, the investigation comes with serious question marks.
State of Play
Before we were obsessed by the corruption-busting investigations of AC-12, there was this brilliant political conspiracy, with lone journalist Cal McAffrey (John Simm) investigating the death of a researcher for ambitious politician Stephen Collins (David Morrissey).
The People v OJ Simpson
If you've go used to Line of Duty's mix of thrilling twists and meticulous attention to detail, true crime is really the only way you need to go.
BBC2 first broadcast this hit US adaptation of the OJ Simpson trial last, and are set to show the next instalment in the American Crime Story franchise focusing on Hurricane Katrina. Before then, catch up with the whole thing on Netflix.
Murder
The case is heard, the evidence laid out, the confessions made directly to camera – now you decide who is guilty or innocent. If you worked out the twists in Line of Duty weeks ago, test your amateur detective skills in this ambitious drama series.
Reported Missing
"Every two minutes, someone in Britain is reported missing," we're told at the beginning of this grimly fascinating documentary series. There's no thrill of the whodunnit here, just the dedicated work of police desperate to reunite missing people with their loved ones. All three episodes are available on iPlayer, but the third is by far the most powerful: 82-year-old Archie has dementia, and since the death of his wife three months ago he's been struggling. Now the ex-Para has walked out of his home, and nobody knows where he is.
Murder in Successville
Why worry yourself with what Roz Huntley did when you can watch Richard Osman, Martin Kemp and Lorraine Kelly solve crimes while trying not to corpse? BBC3's improv comedy/murder mystery is into its third series, and is as brilliantly impossible to explain as ever...
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Line of Duty
OK, bit of a cop out, but anyone who has watched this series without having seen the previous four will probably have found parts of this thriller completely baffling – particularly that final episode.
Series one and two are available on Netflix UK, with series three available to buy on BBC Store and Amazon.
