Hit BBC drama Line of Duty returned to TV tonight and although the gripping stories are not ripped straight from the headlines, it is based on real anti-corruption police units.
A real life police officer, named only as John, has been advising on the show since the second season to make sure the plots are true to life.
He admits creator Jed Mercurio uses dramatic licence, but Line Of Duty stays within the realms of reality.
John told The Independent : "Jed will always use dramatic licence, but there are very few places where he’ll push the boundaries of what policework is really like.
"The job can be a lot more complex and time-consuming than we’re sometimes able to show in the series, but I’ve spoken to officers of various forces and ranks, and they recognise the fundamentals of day-to-day policing are there.”
"Most forces have several thousand employees and the drama focuses on a case involving two or three people.
Mercurio told Radio Times of his writing process: "The starting point is with our advisers and I always get excited if we can use something I haven’t seen in any other series."
Dramatic Line of Duty series opening photos tease show's most dangerous villain yet
"We’d be naïve to think there aren’t corrupt people working for the police, but they’re few and far between and the DPS do a really good job bringing them to task.”
Although there is no AC-12, there are anti-corruption branches operating in police forces across the country.
London's Met Police has its own version of the fictional unit, which was originally called A10 before becoming CIB1, then CIB2, and is now known as the Directorate of Professional Standards (DOS).
The unit was previously nicknamed the “ghost squad” because it was so secretive, but it's existence is now well known.
5 Line Of Duty questions that need solving as Balaclava Man returns
Line of Duty started on BBC two, but has since transferred to BBC One and Mercurio has revealed it's given him the chance to plan more big action sequences.
When asked what viewers can expect from season five, he said: "In this series of Line Of Duty we enter brand new territory, what we see is criminal activity on a large scale and we’re actually inside the planning and execution of that.
"So rather than the aftermath being investigated by AC-12, we are actually with the criminals as they commit their offences.
"That means that there is high jeopardy and big action sequences, in fact probably more action sequences over the first few episodes of the series than were ever done before."
Line of Duty returns on Sundays at 9pm on BBC1.
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@trinitymirror.com or call us direct 0207 29 33033.
