LINE of Duty has arrived to liven up the Spring schedule.

And what a cracking opener it was.

I have to admit, I only joined the admirers of this in the last series, and since then have meant to go back and catch up on the first three.

Rarely has there been a show which has received such universal praise and acclaim to the point I just ploughed straight on with watching the fourth outing.

Hollywood actress Thandie Newton was the suspected bad apple AC12 were tackling and this time they were tipped straight into the middle of organised crime with rent-a-baddie Stephen Graham at the helm.

Martin Compston, a Scottish actor, continues to have an oddly unplaceable southern accent which is not quite London or Essex and occasionally dips into Australian.

No-one smiles much and that might be because pretty much nobody is who, or what they might seem.

It might be I am just not very clued up, but I rarely see where twists are coming from.

Which means I probably get optimum enjoyment from those series which contain a lot of them and this is a show which prides itself on that sort of thing.

It’s pleasing to have something on a Sunday we can get our teeth into.

I couldn’t really get on with Victoria, now in its third series on ITV.

Personally, I just feel this period of history has been comprehensively covered both on film and the small screen.

Can’t we find something a bit more original ?

Something like the OA which premiered on Netflix a few years ago.

A word of mouth hit, it soon gathered pace and as a result its writers have taken their time crafting a perfect follow up.

It is, therefore, broader and far more ambitious in its scope but equally as impossible to sum up here without giving away a certain amount of its secrets.

Even explaining what the title is would give the game up.

Unlike line of Duty, you can’t swan in and enjoy a fresh central story whilst picking up the threads of what has gone before as you go along.

And I admire that.

This is one of those brave and original dramas which does not re-hash an old plot or bring in youthful flesh to re-vamp something which really should have been left alone.

Almost every successful 80s and 90s cop drama or teen set up has been given the millenial treatment and a host of comedies have been given follow-ups or a new look.

And they either pick up where their predecessors left it, riding on their coat tails and collecting the die-hard original fans, or they fall very quickly by the wayside.

And then there are others that really shouldn’t work a second time, Still Open All hours Anyone ? but do.

In a world where we all buy everything on the internet and the High Street continues to struggle, there is a programme seemingly operating in a parallel universe where people still carry wicker shopping baskets.

Maybe this nostalgic view of things is what makes Still Open All Hours the success it, unfathomably, continues to be.

Or it might be Sir David Jason.

It’s not my idea of top viewing though - I will stick with Jason Isaac’s in the OA for now and I would recommend you treat yourself to a bit of a binge too.

Just start with the first series though won’t you ?