SPOILERS FOR LINE OF DUTY
Fans of BBC of the popular police drama might be missing the action from Superintendent Hastings, Detective Inspector Arnott, and DI Fleming but good news as the first Line of Duty tour has been launched in Belfast.
This tour of locations from the hit series has been created by Hastings Hotels and McComb’s Coach Travel has combined to create the new tour, the Line of Duty Experience. It begins with lunch in Grand Café in Belfast’s Grand Central Hotel before an action-packed guided tour onboard a luxurious coach which takes in some of the most recognisable filming locations.
The tour finishes with an AC12 cocktail or Wee Donkey mocktail in the Observatory, Ireland’s tallest cocktail bar. Guests will also receive the Hastings’ Line of Duty duck which has been designed with some of Northern Ireland’s best-known sayings.
Julie Hastings, Marketing Director of Hastings Hotels, explained that the idea for the tour came from a shared name with the main character.
“Given our namesake with everyone’s favourite Superintendent, we had to be the first to launch a Line of Duty Experience,” she said. “And while you may not float up the Lagan in a bubble, you will certainly enjoy the best views of Belfast and beyond.”
The Line of Duty tour takes place on July 3, 17, and 31, August 14 and 28, and September 11 and 25, 2021.
Highlights of the Line of Duty tour
The tour starts at Belfast’s Grand Central Hotel in Bedford Street which is located beside the Invest NI building – the setting for AC-12 HQ.
There will be various stops across the City Centre including ‘Pelbury House’ the headquarters of the Central Police force which provided the backdrop for Ted Hastings’ famous peaked-cap adjustments.
‘Kingsgate Printing Services’, the building used as a front for members of the OCG (Organised Crime Gang) and the Lorry Park where Kate shot Ryan Pilkington before doing a runner with Jo Davidson in Series 6 will be a key part of the tour.
Visitors will get the chance to visit the sites of some of the most memorable car chases including the crash from Series 6 when DC Chloe and DI Arnott were transporting Jimmy Lakewell from prison to AC-12 HQ to interrogate him when the police convoy was attacked.
And the bridge where DI Fleming dramatically fired an assault rifle at a fleeing four-wheel drive, killing her dodgy partner and crime gang mole, Dot Cotton, will also feature.
Other filming locations on the tour include Brentiss Prison, which viewers watched prisoners being escorted to and Tresco Storage, the company used in Series 3 by Danny Waldron to store the decapitated head of Linus Murphy which was later discovered by Steve.
Who could forget the incident in the opening episode of Series 6 that first made viewers suspect that DCI Davidson was a bent copper, when en route to raid the address of a murder suspect, she redirected the convoy to Hickey’s Bookmakers for what she ‘suspected’ was an armed robbery.