10 TV Shows That Changed Dramatically
3. Line Of Duty
What a difference a budget makes. The first three seasons of Line Of Duty were made from the standard British drama purse - that is to say, savings made where possible. The cast was kept small - AC-12’s internal affairs coppers, their subject, and a few baddies. Plots were sharp, plenty of moving pieces, but action, location, and setpieces were at a premium.
Once the broadcaster realised they had a genuine sensation on their hands, though, things changed sharpish. From a small team of straight arrow police investigating a few bad apples, Line Of Duty’s plots became labyrinthine, involving vast conspiracies, gunplay, code names, and a lot of scenes involving baddies piling into or out of black landrovers.
It’s a matter of taste which you prefer, but as the show and the budget took off, it’s noticeable that the stories became a whole lot whackier, the stuff of action movies rather than the stuff of real newspaper headlines.
The finale left a lot of fans disappointed, but the mundanity of the ending was almost the point - crime often isn’t exciting or glossy. After three seasons of daftness, though, that’s not what the viewers were conditioned to expect.