​New TV Show Bent Coppers Explores The Real Life Dirty Secrets Of Police Corruption

A new BBC documentary called Bent Coppers explores the real-life secrets of police corruption, sharing the tale of the internal anti-corruption unit that inspired hit crime drama Line of Duty.

Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty is a three-part series featuring insider interviews, evocative footage and secret recordings to show 'how the public myth of incorruptibility protected the police for so long'.

It explores the 'dirty secrets behind London's policing', weaving a story of corruption that reaches 'the very top of the Met' while also exploring the formation of the first internal anti-corruption unit, A10, which inspired the BBC drama Line of Duty.

The first episode, which is available to watch on BBC iPlayer, kicks things off in the late 1960s, when a criminal tipped off a newspaper about police corruption.

BBC

A synopsis reads: "The first episode begins in 1969, at a time when the British police are held to be the most trusted and effective force in the world. But all that is about to change. When a desperate south London villain tips off The Times about how he is being extorted for money by a detective in the Metropolitan Police, something much more shocking is discovered: that at the heart of the Metropolitan CID there exists a 'firm in a firm', a secret network of corrupt coppers."

Further episodes take us into the 'sleazy underbelly' of London's Soho in the 1970s - where an 'explosion of dirty pornographic bookshops provides an open invitation for corrupt cops to be greedy' - also detailing the launch of Operation Countryman, which was set up as a response to the growing problem of bent coppers.

BBC

After the first instalment aired on 14 April, viewers seemed to be sucked in by the story, saying it was 'bloody brilliant' and 'well worth a watch'.

One person tweeted: "Great footage, recordings and interviews. Worth a look."

Someone else wrote: "#Bentcoppers is well worth a watch. Incredible use of archive & GFX to tell fascinating old stories of police corruption."

A third referred to it as a 'fabulous documentary on police corruption', while another said it was an 'interesting watch'.

Catch episode two on BBC Two at 9pm on Wednesday, and episode three at 9pm on 28 April. The series will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film, Documentary, Line of Duty

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman