Line of Duty BBC1, 9pm last night ****

SEVEN years in, and it doesn’t get any easier welcoming a new Line of Duty. Will it be as good as the rest? Will we find out the identity of the master criminal pulling everyone’s strings? And will Superintendent Ted Hastings ever get through a series without calling to his aid Jesus, Mary and Joseph?

Ah, Ted, big Ted, father Ted, super Ted. We’ll get to him in a mo. First, there was the not inconsiderable matter of the Big Gobsmacking Opening (BGO) to be taken care of. These are as much part of the fabric of Jed Mercurio’s creation as the waistcoats of DS Steve Arnott (Scotland’s Martin Compston).

Susan Swarbrick investigates a major lead

The air was crackling with radio chatter as a consignment of seized drugs left a police warehouse, bound for incineration. Common sense would dictate such a convoy stuck to main roads, but ours is not to reason why when there is so much going on. Sure enough, the delivery did not go as planned courtesy of several balaclava men and, in keeping with these modern equal opportunities times, a balaclava woman. One for the sisterhood? Will keep you posted.

Oh, how Mercurio, busy of late with Bodyguard, has teased us with the balaclava people. It was nice to finally see a group of them in the flesh, but only for a nanosec because they were a horrible lot, especially the one played by Stephen Graham. The Scouse actor who was Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire plays proper scary sorts, as the would say in his home town, better than any other British actor alive.

DI Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) told Ted about the hijack involving men wearing “dark balaclavas”. Do robbers use any other kind? Was there ever a vogue for pastel coloured balaclavas? A minor point, but such is the tight as a drum dialogue the odd dodgy phrase jars like a marching band at 2am.

Everything you need to know about Line of Duty

Ted (Adrian Dunbar) decided there must have been a leak about the delivery so it was an AC-12 case, coppers investigating coppers. Fleming and Arnott began digging, soon coming up against a brick wall of official silence presided over by an officer named Alison Powell. She and Ted called each other by their first names. What was going on?

It was not long before we were back in the glass cube of doom with DS Arnott swiping away at his tablet as Ted fumed, Kate furrowed her brow, a suspect sweated and their useless Police Federation lawyer stayed silent as usual. Ted was fizzing mad at the suspect, but he perked up later, telling the team he had confirmed the identity of the mysterious “H”, the supremo cheese who ran the network of corrupt coppers. But had he? And why was Vicky smiling at Ted Hastings, that’s Hastings with an H? It’s never good when Vicky smiles.

Compston rates Line of Duty as one of the greats

Elsewhere in the first of six episodes we found out that Vicky has a home life, DS Arnott, still with a sore back after being thrown down the stairs by a balaclava man, is popping painkillers like sweeties, and Ted is living in a mid-priced hotel like some Northern Irish Alan Partridge, but without the laughs or a big plate. Make a note of everything, people, because some of it might come in handy when the plot becomes even more of a head-scratcher.

Who fears their on screen death?

Okay, gather round as we sum up at an imaginary white-board. BGO delivered, check, blizzard of initials, check, red herrings strewn, check, Ted doing his nut, check, what else was left? Ah, yes, the shock ending. As is customary in the Line of Duty opener, somebody is sent back to their agent to look for a new job. This was a particularly grisly departure, signalling that this series is going to push the boundaries even more than usual. Is there a bodyguard in the house?