Line of Duty is back: first look at series seven

Fans of the BBC's biggest police drama have a date to look forward to. The BBC has released the first look at the long-awaited seventh series of Line of Duty, and confirmed that it arrives on BBC One early next year.

The new pictures show the trio everyone wants back, Martin Compston as Steve Arnott, Vicky McClure as Kate Fleming and Adrian Dunbar as Ted Hastings. Things have changed, though. AC-12 has been disbanded and rebranded as the Inspectorate of Professional Standards, and the team now face their most sensitive case yet.

Robert Carlyle joins as the new guest lead, Police Constable Shaun Massie, a senior investigating officer with Tactical Operations Unit 7, which goes after organised crime groups. When his boss, DI Dominic Gough, played by Tom Weston-Jones, is accused of being a sexual predator, Massie has to rethink keeping himself to himself. The big question is whether the accusation is a deliberate distraction from a bigger threat.

Mark Bonnar, Owen Teale, Perry Fitzpatrick and Christina Chong all return, and the new cast includes Laura Aikman, Levi Brown, Amy Leigh Hickman and David Calder.