Yahoo News 6 Line of Duty series 4 spoilers we DEFINITELY know
It was BBC Two's most successful drama series for almost 15 years – and now Line of Duty has risen up the ranks, earning a promotion to BBC One.
But, as ever with Jed Mercurio's twisty crime thriller, details on what to expect from the next run of episodes are scant (though it's safe to assume there'll be bent coppers, nail-biting interrogations and more of Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) calling slippery suspects "fella").
Here, though, are six things we do know about AC-12'S latest assignment...
1. Thandie Newton is AC-12's new quarry
Following in the footsteps of AC-12's former quarries Lennie James, Keeley Hawes and Daniel Mays is Westworld star and Golden Globe nominee Newton.
She'll play DCI Roz Huntley, a different animal to troubled loners Lindsay Denton (Hawes) and Danny Waldron (Mays). More akin to series one's Tony Gates (James), Roz has a family at home: two kids and a husband, Nick (played by The A Word's Lee Ingleby).
2. Operation Trapdoor is set to get busted wide open
Series four will begin with Roz and her team in the thick of a career-defining case, Operation Trapdoor.
Under intense pressure to catch the culprit and prove herself to her superiors, Huntley's conduct attracts the attention of AC-12, who decide to probe her handling of the investigation.
All sounds fairly straightforward. We're confident the investigation will resolve itself quickly and amicably with a minimum of fuss... and absolutely no mega plot twists.
3. There's a new face joining AC-12
Martin Compston (DS Steve Arnott), Vicky McClure (newly-promoted DS Kate Fleming) and Dunbar's Supt. Hastings will all be back, fighting the good fight, along with Maya Sondhi as PC Maneet Bindra.
Filling the void left by Dot will be DC Jamie Desford, a new recruit played by Royce Pierreson – who you might remember as Michelle Keegan's nice but boring boyfriend in Our Girl.
No word yet on whether Jamie will be more trustworthy than his predecessor, but Royce told us that he won't mind if his character meets a similarly grisly end.
"If I get a spectacular death, I don't mind," he admitted. "I'm excited to see what [writer Jed Mercurio] does with it, like everyone. It's one of these shows where you can't even guess it."
4. But AC-12 is not Roz's only problem
BAFTA winner Jason Watkins is joining Line of Duty this year as Huntley's colleague, forensic coordinator Tim Ifield. Roz will find herself in conflict with Tim, just as anti-corruption put the beady eye on her. Will she crack under the pressure?
5. The ghost of "Dot" Cottan will plague our heroes
Well, not literally. But the end of the last series made clear that Dot was only part of a vast criminal conspiracy.
The man himself might be gone, but the crime syndicate he served for 20 years plus is still very much in place, and writer Mercurio has always delighted in drawing complex and surprising links from one series to the next.
No word yet on if Neil Morrissey will reprise his recurring role of dirty DC Nige... but we've got everything crossed.
6. It's not the last we'll see of AC-12
No-one's safe on Line of Duty (one alternative ending to the last series even offed Steve Arnott!) but clearly AC-12 will continue to operate on some level, because the Beeb's already ordered a fifth series.
"I'm certainly not inclined to stop doing Line of Duty," Mercurio told us when asked about the show's long-term future. "It's great to be involved in a series that gets such a fantastic response from [casual] viewers and fans alike. I hope it continues."
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