Line of Duty: Date for series six of police corruption drama announced

Kelly Macdonald (right) will join series regulars Compston and McClure (left) when the BBC drama returns

Now we're sucking diesel! The sixth series of Line of Duty will begin on 21 March, the BBC has confirmed.

Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar will reprise their roles in the Jed Mercurio drama about corruption inside the police force.

They will be joined by Kelly Macdonald, who will play a DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) who comes under suspicion.

The latest series of the popular crime drama will have seven episodes, making it the longest series to date.

Series two is currently being repeated on BBC One, while all five previous series can be watched on BBC iPlayer.

• Kelly Macdonald joins Line of Duty cast

• Line of Duty recap: Series one to five

The exploits of the fictional AC-12 unit have gripped audiences ever since the BBC drama first hit screens in 2012.

Lennie James, Keeley Hawes and Thandie Newton are among the star names who have played its complex antagonists.

More than nine million viewers tuned in to see the final episode of Line of Duty's fifth series when it aired in May 2019.

Filming on the sixth series was temporarily halted in Northern Ireland last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

An image from the first day of filming Line of Duty's sixth series

The new series will see Compston, McClure and Dunbar return to their roles as Steve Arnott, Kate Fleming and Superintendent Ted Hastings respectively.

Shalom Brune-Franklin, seen last year in BBC One's political thriller Roadkill, will play Chloe Bishop, a new addition to the AC-12 team.

Trainspotting star Macdonald will play DCI Joanne Davidson, the senior investigating officer on an unsolved murder case whose conduct attracts the attention of the Anti-Corruption unit.

Mercurio also wrote hit drama Bodyguard and is an executive producer on Bloodlands, a Northern Ireland-set thriller starring James Nesbitt that is currently running on BBC One.

Line of Duty begins on BBC One on Sunday 21 March at 21:00 GMT.