“Impossible not to binge”: the 2012 TV series Stephen King called the UK’s version of ‘The Wire’
When he’s not busy scribbling his latest novel or short story, Stephen King watches a lot of movies. When he’s not busy watching movies, he watches a lot of TV. When he watches good TV, he wants everyone to know what he’s been watching.
Even today, when it’s become more of a hellscape than ever before, social media still has some benefits, one of which is allowing the titan of terror, bestselling author, and horror icon to share his recommendations on screens big and small, whether they’re first-run efforts or legacy titles.
Clearly, King is a fan of cop shows, but only the good ones. He’s cited The Shield as one of the most important TV shows of all time, which it is, and as far as he’s concerned, no episodic undertaking will ever come close to recapturing the magic of The Wire, which is an opinion many people would agree with.
If it’s not the greatest series ever made, then it’s right up there, with The Shining and Shawshank mastermind citing Felicia Pearson’s Snoop as “the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television series.” With that in mind, if King mentions any show in the same breath as David Simon’s five-season masterpiece, then praise doesn’t come much higher.
That’s exactly what he did, too, with the one-man Hollywood production pipeline citing Jed Mercurio’s Line of Duty, which premiered in June 2012 and spanned for six seasons, with a seventh on the way, as one of the few procedurals worthy of existing on the same plane as the seminal Wire.
Fully agreeing with a previous description that had labelled it as “less like watching TV, and more like being abducted by it, cuffed, then dragged along,” King was blown away by the ongoing adventures of Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, and Adrian Dunbar’s AC-12, just like millions of viewers around the world.
“It’s one of the best police series I’ve ever seen,” he declared. “Impossible not to binge. Bears comparison to The Wire.” Many shows have tried and failed to reach the same level as Simon’s sprawling, Baltimore-set web of corruption from street level to the highest corridors of power, but for King’s money, Line of Duty comes closer than most, if not all of the pretenders to the throne.
The United Kingdom isn’t exactly renowned for its engrossing procedurals, at least, not to anywhere near the same extent as the United States, but Mercurio’s densely plotted, intricately written, and superbly acted sextet of seasons takes what’s ostensibly a very British approach to a very American format and made feel fresh, eminently watchable, and as King said, endlessly bingeable.
It’s been almost half a decade since the last episode of Line of Duty aired, and based on his glowing appraisal, you can almost guarantee that King will be waiting on tenterhooks for the show’s long-awaited return, which is shaping up to be sooner rather than later.
