Every Rowan Atkinson Film & TV Project Ranked From Worst To Best
6. The Thin Blue Line
A well-written British sitcom, that probably isn't as well regarded as it should be, the series was a relatively unflinching send-up of small town British policing. The show highlights the tensions and petty squabbles between police departments as well as the toll the job takes on the private lives of police staff, all whilst delivering consistent laughs.
By this stage Atkinson was fully into the flow of leading series as the most high profile UK comedic actor of his generation, with this being his first major television project following the end of the Mr. Bean show.
He is the stand out performer amongst talented colleagues, with James Dreyfus going on to be one of the leads in Gimme Gimme Gimme, and Rudolph Walker portraying Patrick Trueman in EastEnders for more than 20 years.
The short two season run may be one of the reasons the show is a little under-discussed today, but in fairness, the story had run its course and time was called before things got stale.
A mid-2000s public poll ran by the BBC would place The Thin Blue Line as the 34th best British sitcom of all time, finishing above Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, closely trailing the likes of Red Dwarf, and Dinnerladies.