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Line of Duty series 3

series 3 of a British BBC police procedural television series

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ65065265 ↗
Source-derived summary

The third series of the British police procedural television programme Line of Duty, was broadcast on BBC Two between 24 March and 28 April 2016. It is the final series to air on BBC Two with all subsequent series airing on BBC One

The series follows the fictional Anti-Corruption Unit 12, a team tasked with "policing the police". AC-12 is led by Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), who is assisted by his team, DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston), DC Kate Flemming (Vicky McClure), and DI Matthew "Dot" Cottan (Craig Parkinson). The unit investigates the actions of Sergeant Daniel Waldron (Daniel Mays), who is suspected of wrongfully shooting and killing a suspect. Waldron leads a team of authorised firearms officers backed by PC Rod Kennedy (Will Mellor), PC Harinderpal "Hari" Bains (Arsher Ali), and PC Jackie Brickford (Leanne Best). Lindsay Denton (Keeley Hawes), a former DI, returns as an officer formerly investigated by AC-12. Supporting characters include Gill Biggeloe (Polly Walker), Chief Superintendent Terry Reynolds (Shaun Parkes), DS Sam Railston (Aiysha Hart), Joe Nash (Jonas Armstrong), Maneet Bindra (Maya Sondhi), Chief Superintendent Patrick Fairbank (George Costigan), and DC Nigel Morton (Neil Morrissey).

The series was created and written by Jed Mercurio, who also serves as an executive producer. Six episodes were directed by Michael Keillor and John Strickland with cinematographer Peter Robertson. Filming took place in Belfast in 2015.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Line of Duty series 3” is series 3 of a British BBC police procedural television series. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Line, Duty and series, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2016, 2015—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Line, Duty and series is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “series 3 of a British BBC police procedural television series” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q65065265. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2016 and 2015.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Line of Duty series 3”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Line of Duty series 3 primary sources, Line of Duty series 3 archive and Line research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Line of Duty series 3”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Line of Duty series 3” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.