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Interview under caution · AC-12 · Birmingham 2012 · Belfast 2014–2021

A rounded glass-and-steel corner tower with horizontal fins above a glazed ground floor on a city street
Invest Northern Ireland’s headquarters on Bedford Street, Belfast, October 2010. Photo by Ardfern. Ardfern · CC BY-SA 3.0

Line of Duty

  • A man with swept-back fair hair smiling in a green jacket and open-necked shirt
    Adrian Dunbar in Belfast, May 2014, the year of series two. Photo by Brian O'Neill. Brian O'Neill · CC BY-SA 3.0
    Adrian DunbarTed Hastings · shown 2014
  • A woman with short dark hair in a jewelled top in front of a yellow backdrop
    Vicky McClure at a London film premiere, March 2014, the year of series two. Photo by Christopher William Adach from London, UK. Christopher William Adach from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0
    Vicky McClureKate Fleming · shown 2014
  • A man with short dark hair and a beard talking to camera in a white T-shirt
    Martin Compston in May 2019, the year of series five. Photo by Soccer Aid for Unicef. Soccer Aid for Unicef · CC BY 3.0
    Martin CompstonSteve Arnott · shown 2019
  • A bearded man in a dark jacket seated against a wood-panelled wall
    Jed Mercurio at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, December 2021, the year of series six. Photo by Whispyhistory. Whispyhistory · CC BY-SA 4.0
    Jed MercurioCreator and writer · shown 2021

The recording has not started. Interview

Interview room · the city under caution

No comment.

The series is built round long interviews, some taking up to 46 minutes of an episode, where AC-12 puts the evidence and waits. Now the city is across the table. Ask it where things were really filmed and put an exhibit to it. Get it wrong and you know what it will say.

Reply

Pick a question, then put an exhibit to the city.

No comment × 0 · disclosed 0 of 6

Central Police · a city with no name

Which city?

The force is Central Police, AC-12 is Anti-Corruption Unit 12, and the city they police is never named. Two real cities played it.

Belfast · Series two to six · filmed from 2013, shown 2014–2021

From series two the production moved to Belfast. Invest NI’s tower becomes AC-12, the Central Library becomes police headquarters, and an underpass by the Albert Memorial Clock becomes the place to meet unseen.

  • Invest NI, Bedford Street
  • Belfast Central Library
  • The underpass by the Albert Memorial Clock
  • St Anne’s Cathedral
  • McHugh’s Bar
  • Belfast City Hall
  • BT Riverside Tower
  • Royal Courts of Justice
  • Titanic Hotel Belfast
Where we read it
A rounded glass-and-steel corner tower with horizontal fins above a glazed ground floor on a city street
Invest Northern Ireland’s headquarters on Bedford Street, Belfast, October 2010. Photo by Ardfern. Ardfern · CC BY-SA 3.0

Broad Street · Curzon Street · Newhall Street

Birmingham, series one.

Before Belfast, there was a bank with bronze doors, a glass atrium with escalators, and a corner pub with its name in tiles. All three are within a half-hour walk of each other.

Exhibit · the front

A grand pale stone bank with tall columns and a big bronze doorway
The former Birmingham Municipal Bank on Broad Street, August 2009, now The Exchange. Photo by Matthew Black from London, UK. Matthew Black from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0

301 Broad Street, Centenary Square, Birmingham

The old Municipal Bank, Broad Street

In series one its front plays a police building. Virgin Media’s guide calls it the Central Police station where Gates and Fleming work; Brit Movie Tours calls it AC-12’s office.

The Birmingham Municipal Bank opened here on 27 November 1933. After Lloyds TSB left in 1998 it stood empty for almost two decades, used now and then for exhibitions, adverts and BBC productions.

The University of Birmingham took it on in 2018 and reopened it as The Exchange in summer 2021.

Now the University of Birmingham’s Exchange, with its restored front door on Centenary Square. Check its opening times before you go.

Where we read it

Exhibit · the rooms

A tall glass atrium with escalators and walkways crossing several floors
The atrium of Millennium Point, Birmingham, December 2013. Photo by Andy Mabbett. Andy Mabbett · CC BY-SA 3.0

Curzon Street, Birmingham

Millennium Point

Its meeting rooms were turned into the interview rooms for the case against DCI Tony Gates in series one.

The atrium, glass lifts and escalators play the inside of police headquarters, most clearly in episode three of series one.

It is home to Thinktank, Birmingham’s science museum, and to Birmingham City University.

A public building in Eastside. The atrium is open; Thinktank, the city’s science museum, is inside.

Where we read it
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Tours in Birmingham

Birmingham

Live marketplace results for tours in central Birmingham, where series one was made. None is about the series.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

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Exhibit · the pub

A red-brick Victorian corner pub with tiled lettering and lit windows
The Queen’s Arms on Newhall Street, Birmingham, December 2015. Photo by Amanda Slater from Coventry, West Midlands, UK. Amanda Slater from Coventry, West Midlands, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0

150 Newhall Street, Birmingham

The Queen’s Arms

Scenes inside the pub were filmed here for series one.

A Grade II Victorian corner pub with tiled signs outside, refurbished in late 2022 and again in 2024.

A working pub on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter: noon to 11pm Monday to Wednesday, later Thursday to Saturday.

Where we read it

Linen Quarter · Cathedral Quarter · Queen’s Square

Belfast, on foot.

From series two the unnamed city is Belfast. The places sit in a short walk from AC-12’s door on Bedford Street to the underpass by the clock.

  1. 1 · Bedford Street

    A rounded glass-and-steel corner tower with horizontal fins above a glazed ground floor on a city street
    Invest Northern Ireland’s headquarters on Bedford Street, Belfast, October 2010. Photo by Ardfern. Ardfern · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Bedford Street, Linen Quarter, Belfast

    Invest NI, Bedford Street

    Invest Northern Ireland’s headquarters doubled as AC-12’s office building from series two.

    Its outside is where suspects arrive at AC-12.

    Its exterior appears from series two to six, and Hastings and Arnott are often filmed inside.

    Working government offices. See the building from Bedford Street; there is no public tour.

    Where we read it
    Grand Central Hotel

    Grand Central Hotel, Bedford Street

    Belfast · Prices shown for your dates on the hotel’s booking page

    A five-star tower in the Linen Quarter with a cocktail bar on the 23rd floor, on the same street as the building that plays AC-12. It belongs to Hastings Hotels, which is a coincidence.

    See the rooms

  2. 2 · Donegall Square

    A white Portland stone hall with a green copper dome and corner towers behind lawns
    Belfast City Hall, Donegall Square, March 2026. Photo by Simon Burchell. Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Donegall Square, Belfast

    Belfast City Hall

    Belfast City Hall was a location for series three.

    It opened on 1 August 1906: Baroque Revival, in Portland stone, designed by Alfred Brumwell Thomas.

    Weekday tours run at 11am, 2pm and 3pm from October to April.

    Guided tours of 45 to 50 minutes, £6 for adults and free for children; tickets on the day at reception, card only.

    Where we read it

  3. 3 · Royal Avenue

    A long red sandstone building with tall arched windows and a heavy cornice on a city street
    Belfast Central Library on Royal Avenue, May 2012. Photo by Ardfern. Ardfern · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Royal Avenue, Belfast

    Belfast Central Library

    The library’s front on Royal Avenue plays the facade of police headquarters.

    Virgin Media’s guide names the headquarters it plays as Pelbury House.

    A guided tour of the building covers Northern Ireland’s oldest public library.

    A free public library: 9am to 8pm Monday and Thursday, 9am to 5.30pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10am to 4.30pm Saturday; closed Sunday.

    Where we read it

  4. 4 · Donegall Street

    The pale stone west front of a cathedral with three round-arched doorways and a tall steel spire behind
    St Anne’s Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast, April 2018. Photo by Suicasmo. Suicasmo · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Donegall Street, Cathedral Quarter, Belfast

    St Anne’s Cathedral

    In series two the cathedral is the backdrop for the funeral of three police officers.

    A self-guided visit is £5 for adults and a guided or audio-guided visit £8; every visitor gets a free guidebook.

    Open Monday to Saturday 10.30am to 4pm (last paid entry 3.15pm) and Sundays 12.30pm to 3.30pm around services. Adults £5, children under 16 free.

    Where we read it

  5. 5 · Queen’s Square

    A low old pub front with a painted sign beside taller later buildings
    McHugh’s Bar on Queen’s Square, Belfast, September 2018. Photo by DeeTutorWiki. DeeTutorWiki · CC BY-SA 4.0

    29 Queen’s Square, Belfast

    McHugh’s Bar

    McHugh’s Bar was a location for series three.

    It was built around 1711 as a house on the old Town Dock and became a small pub between 1715 and 1725. It is Grade A listed and keeps its eighteenth-century oak beams.

    A working bar and restaurant on Queen’s Square, a few steps from the clock and the underpass.

    Where we read it

  6. 6 · High Street

    People walking across a paved city square with trees and a bus shelter
    Queen’s Square, Belfast, September 2019: the underpass entrance is on High Street, opposite the clock. Photo by Rossographer. Rossographer · CC BY-SA 2.0

    High Street entrance, facing Queen’s Square, Belfast

    The underpass by the Albert Memorial Clock

    The graffiti underpass is the show’s secret meeting place: Steve Arnott meets Kate Fleming here.

    Its entrance is on High Street, opposite the Albert Memorial Clock in Queen’s Square.

    Brit Movie Tours’ Belfast walk ends at this tunnel.

    A public pedestrian underpass. The pin marks Queen’s Square, which the entrance faces across High Street.

    Where we read it
    Brit Movie Tours

    Line of Duty tour with a private guide

    Belfast · Daily at 10am and 2.30pm from 10 Great Victoria Street · £90 for up to four people, £5 for each extra person

    A two-mile walk round the Belfast filming places, from AC-12’s building to the graffiti tunnel where the series holds its secret meetings.

    Book a walk

Ted Hastings did not, as he puts it, float up the Lagan in a bubble.

A modern glass office tower with a pointed top reflecting orange evening light
BT Riverside Tower at Lanyon Place, Belfast, October 2014, with the sunset in its glass. Photo by Ardfern. Ardfern · CC BY-SA 3.0

Lanyon Place · Chichester Street · Queen’s Road

The Lagan.

Down by the river: a glass tower from series three, the courts, and the offices where Titanic was drawn, now a hotel whose bar turns up in the series.

A modern glass office tower with a pointed top reflecting orange evening light
BT Riverside Tower at Lanyon Place, Belfast, October 2014, with the sunset in its glass. Photo by Ardfern. Ardfern · CC BY-SA 3.0

Lanyon Place, Belfast

BT Riverside Tower

BT Riverside Tower was a location for series three.

The tower is 61.88 metres tall; the Duke of Edinburgh opened it on 11 November 1998.

Working offices by the Lagan. See the tower from Lanyon Place or the riverside path.

Where we read it
A massive pale stone court building with a colonnade of tall columns
The Royal Courts of Justice, Chichester Street, Belfast, March 2015. Photo by Ardfern. Ardfern · CC BY-SA 3.0

Chichester Street, Belfast

Royal Courts of Justice

The courts were used in Line of Duty, and in Dublin Murders too.

They were built between 1928 and 1933 to designs by Sir Richard Allison and James Grey West, and are Grade A listed.

Working courts. See the colonnade from Chichester Street; the Lagan and St George’s Market are close by.

Where we read it
A red-brick Edwardian office building with tall windows, lit at dusk
Titanic Hotel Belfast, in Harland & Wolff’s old headquarters and drawing offices, November 2017. Photo by Titanic Belfast. Titanic Belfast · CC BY 2.0

Queen’s Road, Titanic Quarter, Belfast

Titanic Hotel Belfast

The hotel’s Titanic Bar appears in the series.

The building was Harland & Wolff’s headquarters and drawing offices, where Titanic was designed. The shipbuilder left in 1989 and the hotel opened on 10 September 2017.

A working hotel. Its bar is open to non-residents; Titanic Belfast and the slipways are next door.

Where we read it

Present

Who was in the room.

  • A man with swept-back fair hair smiling in a green jacket and open-necked shirt
    Adrian Dunbar in Belfast, May 2014, the year of series two. Photo by Brian O'Neill. Brian O'Neill · CC BY-SA 3.0
    Adrian DunbarTed Hastings · shown 2014
  • A woman with short dark hair in a jewelled top in front of a yellow backdrop
    Vicky McClure at a London film premiere, March 2014, the year of series two. Photo by Christopher William Adach from London, UK. Christopher William Adach from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0
    Vicky McClureKate Fleming · shown 2014
  • A man with short dark hair and a beard talking to camera in a white T-shirt
    Martin Compston in May 2019, the year of series five. Photo by Soccer Aid for Unicef. Soccer Aid for Unicef · CC BY 3.0
    Martin CompstonSteve Arnott · shown 2019
  • A bearded man in a dark jacket seated against a wood-panelled wall
    Jed Mercurio at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, December 2021, the year of series six. Photo by Whispyhistory. Whispyhistory · CC BY-SA 4.0
    Jed MercurioCreator and writer · shown 2021
  • A woman with red-brown hair pinned up, smiling
    Keeley Hawes at the television BAFTAs, May 2014, the year of series two. Photo by Ibsan73. Ibsan73 · CC BY 2.0
    Keeley HawesLindsay Denton · shown 2014

Jed Mercurio created the series and wrote every episode. Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar are the only actors in all six series; Dunbar had a supporting part in the first and joined the main cast from the second. Each series puts a different officer across the table. The photographs are from the years the series was made.

  1. Series oneBBC Two · 26 June to 24 July 2012 · filmed in Birmingham
  2. Series twoBBC Two · 12 February to 19 March 2014 · Belfast from here on
  3. Series threeBBC Two · 24 March to 28 April 2016
  4. Series fourBBC One · 26 March to 30 April 2017
  5. Series fiveBBC One · 31 March to 5 May 2019
  6. Series sixBBC One · 21 March to 2 May 2021

Across the table

  • OneLennie James as Tony Gates
  • TwoKeeley Hawes as Lindsay Denton
  • ThreeKeeley Hawes as Lindsay Denton, returning
  • FourThandie Newton as Roz Huntley
  • FiveStephen Graham as John Corbett
  • SixKelly Macdonald as Joanne Davidson
Where we read it

  • Creator and writer; the three actors in all six series; Dunbar’s promotion; broadcasts; guest leads and their roles.

    Wikipedia: Line of Duty

Disclosure.

Where it is now

12 places you can visit in two cities. Invest NI, BT Riverside Tower and the courts are working buildings: see them from the street. The underpass has no mapped point of its own, so its pin is the square it faces.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Now the University of Birmingham’s Exchange, with its restored front door on Centenary Square. Check its opening times before you go.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public building in Eastside. The atrium is open; Thinktank, the city’s science museum, is inside.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working pub on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter: noon to 11pm Monday to Wednesday, later Thursday to Saturday.

  1. A grand pale stone bank with tall columns and a big bronze doorway
    The former Birmingham Municipal Bank on Broad Street, August 2009, now The Exchange. Photo by Matthew Black from London, UK. Matthew Black from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0

    301 Broad Street, Centenary Square, Birmingham

    The old Municipal Bank, Broad Street

    In series one its front plays a police building. Virgin Media’s guide calls it the Central Police station where Gates and Fleming work; Brit Movie Tours calls it AC-12’s office.

    Now the University of Birmingham’s Exchange, with its restored front door on Centenary Square. Check its opening times before you go.

    Where we read it
  2. A tall glass atrium with escalators and walkways crossing several floors
    The atrium of Millennium Point, Birmingham, December 2013. Photo by Andy Mabbett. Andy Mabbett · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Curzon Street, Birmingham

    Millennium Point

    Its meeting rooms were turned into the interview rooms for the case against DCI Tony Gates in series one.

    A public building in Eastside. The atrium is open; Thinktank, the city’s science museum, is inside.

    Where we read it
  3. A red-brick Victorian corner pub with tiled lettering and lit windows
    The Queen’s Arms on Newhall Street, Birmingham, December 2015. Photo by Amanda Slater from Coventry, West Midlands, UK. Amanda Slater from Coventry, West Midlands, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0

    150 Newhall Street, Birmingham

    The Queen’s Arms

    Scenes inside the pub were filmed here for series one.

    A working pub on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter: noon to 11pm Monday to Wednesday, later Thursday to Saturday.

    Where we read it

Stay

On AC-12’s street.

A hotel tower on Bedford Street, a few doors from the building that plays AC-12.

Grand Central Hotel

Grand Central Hotel, Bedford Street

Belfast · Prices shown for your dates on the hotel’s booking page

A five-star tower in the Linen Quarter with a cocktail bar on the 23rd floor, on the same street as the building that plays AC-12. It belongs to Hastings Hotels, which is a coincidence.

See the rooms

Go there

Walk it.

A private walk round the Belfast places, City Hall’s own tours, and tours of Belfast, the Titanic Quarter and Birmingham from the marketplace.

Brit Movie Tours

Line of Duty tour with a private guide

Belfast · Daily at 10am and 2.30pm from 10 Great Victoria Street · £90 for up to four people, £5 for each extra person

A two-mile walk round the Belfast filming places, from AC-12’s building to the graffiti tunnel where the series holds its secret meetings.

Book a walk
Belfast City Council

Guided tours of Belfast City Hall

Belfast · Weekdays 11am, 2pm and 3pm from October to April · adults £6, children free · card only

Forty-five to fifty minutes inside the 1906 hall, a series-three location. No booking: tickets on the day at reception.

Tour times
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Tours in Belfast

Belfast

Live marketplace results for walking and city tours in Belfast. None is about the series.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours
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Tours of the Titanic Quarter

Belfast

Live marketplace results for tours of Belfast’s old shipyard, where the Titanic Hotel stands. None is about the series.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours
Viator · Ad / affiliate

Tours in Birmingham

Birmingham

Live marketplace results for tours in central Birmingham, where series one was made. None is about the series.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

What’s on

This winter.

Sunday tours of City Hall, through to the end of April.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

A book.

A novel by the man who wrote every episode.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Bodies

Jed Mercurio

A 2002 novel by Jed Mercurio, who wrote every episode of Line of Duty.

Find the book

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The evidence log

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

12 of 12 places · 13 of 13 Moments

  • The old Municipal Bank, Broad Street

    301 Broad Street, Centenary Square, Birmingham

    • A police front in Birmingham

      The old Municipal Bank’s front plays a police building in series one.

  • Millennium Point

    Curzon Street, Birmingham

    • The first interview rooms

      Meeting rooms at Millennium Point become the interview rooms for the case against Tony Gates.

    • Glass lifts and escalators

      The atrium plays the inside of police headquarters, most clearly in episode three.

  • The Queen’s Arms

    150 Newhall Street, Birmingham

    • The pub, series one

      Scenes inside the Queen’s Arms are filmed for series one.

  • Invest NI, Bedford Street

    Bedford Street, Linen Quarter, Belfast

    • AC-12

      Invest NI’s headquarters doubles as AC-12’s office building, where suspects arrive.

  • Belfast Central Library

    Royal Avenue, Belfast

    • Police headquarters

      The library’s front plays the facade of police headquarters.

  • The underpass by the Albert Memorial Clock

    High Street entrance, facing Queen’s Square, Belfast

    • The meeting place

      Steve Arnott meets Kate Fleming in secret in the graffiti underpass.

  • McHugh’s Bar

    29 Queen’s Square, Belfast

    • Queen’s Square

      McHugh’s Bar is a series-three location.

  • St Anne’s Cathedral

    Donegall Street, Cathedral Quarter, Belfast

    • A funeral for three officers

      St Anne’s is the backdrop for the funeral of three police officers.

  • Belfast City Hall

    Donegall Square, Belfast

    • Donegall Square

      Belfast City Hall is a series-three location.

  • BT Riverside Tower

    Lanyon Place, Belfast

    • The tower by the river

      BT Riverside Tower is a series-three location.

  • Royal Courts of Justice

    Chichester Street, Belfast

    • The courts

      The Royal Courts of Justice are used in the series.

  • Titanic Hotel Belfast

    Queen’s Road, Titanic Quarter, Belfast

    • The Titanic Bar

      The Titanic Hotel’s bar appears in the series.

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