The Thin Blue Line is a British sitcom set in a police station in London.

The main theme is the competition between the uniformed squad, led by Inspector Fowler (Rowan Atkinson) and the plain clothes detectives, led by Inspector Grim (David Haig).

The two-season series was written by Ben Elton; the profanities (often malaprops caused by the invented English of Inspector Grim) abound, yet otherwise it is a fairly benign comedy.

Cast members included veteran actor Rudolph Walker (Love Thy Neighbour), Serena Evans and James Dreyfus, who later received acclaim for Gimme Gimme Gimme. Although popular, the series was panned by critics, who cited uneven character development, as in Constable Goody's (Dreyfus) crush on Constable Maggie Habib (Mina Anwar), though Goody is portrayed with campy, effeminate homosexual mannerisms. Similarly, despite the character's avowed socially conscious feminism, Maggie Habib became an unintentional sex symbol.

The Thin Blue Line was first aired by the BBC from 1995 to 1997.

External link

• The Thin Blue Line programme summary (http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/tbl/) in the TV Comedy Database