Police On My Back:Black Ops.

"This is some Line of Duty shit" - Dom

 

Black Ops (BBC1/iPlayer, directed by Ben Gregor and written by Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen) IS some Line of Duty shit - but then, in many other ways, it very much isn't. It's Line of Duty done as a comedy and it most definitely leans harder into the comedy than it does the drama. It's often very amusing and while it's compelling viewing it's not exactly tense or gripping.

It doesn't really have to be. Making a comedy about racism within the Metropolitan Police is certainly timely (although there's never been a time when it wouldn't have been timely) but is it advisable? Only if the jokes work and, thankfully, in Black Ops the vast majority of them do.

It's the story of Dom (writer Ikemulo) and Kay (Hammed Animashaun), two black PCSOs, community support officers, who we first see handing out frisbees on the street with "stay street smart" written on them. Dom and Kay are tasked by DI Clinton Blair (Ariyon Bakare gets to play a man named after two former world leaders) to infiltrate the notorious Brightmarsh gang, a Hackney based operation that seems to be run by Breeze (Jaz Hutchins) and Tevin (Ndifornyen, series co-writer).

Think of them as the Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell of E8. But definitely don't think of Dom and Kay as being like anyone you'd find on The Wire. Despite advising others to stay street smart they are anything but street themselves. Especially Kay who runs a prayer group, wears onesies with spaceships and penguins on, always carries Wet Wipes, doesn't know what dogging is, and was once a girl guide.

Brown Owl! Dom and Kay have a love/hate relationshop borne of frustration as much as it is of mutual respect and trust but when Tevin drives them out to Walthamstow Marshes, hands them a spade, and orders them to start digging that friendship is put under strain - and Dom and Kay find themselves in much deeper than ever before.

While the drama unfolds, and Superintendent Edwards (Felicity Montagu) appears to lead us in to that 'Line of Duty shit', there are plenty of very amusing moments. Dom gets most of the best lines (Ikumelo DOES write them) but Kay makes for an excellent stooge. I couldn't help smiling when Kay told a heroin addict he'd just sold drugs to to "take care" before explaining to Dom that it was part of the customer service and would ensure repeat business. Dom's response? "He'll back because he's addicted to heroin".

Dom offers another 'punter' a chance to touch her left boob, "the better one", and Dom, again, telling Kay not to "piss in a dead man's house" before helping herself to a beer from that very same dead man's fridge. There's also some silly knockabout stuff like the two of them drinking cans of Stella Artois at work and doing doughnuts in a borrowed panda car with the explicit intention of getting themselves sacked from the force.

There's also a great scene when Kay attends a wild party and gets (equally) upset about drug use, nudity, and the non-use of coasters. Then there's the time Black Ops tackles racism. There are, of course, white police who claim they "don't actually see colour", others who claim to do good impressions of Levi Roots, and then there's slightly sleazy, but very gauche, Officer 'Pricey' Price (Colin Hoult) who seems to have the hots for Dom and invites her "indoor rock climbing" and launches in to "back once again with the renegade master".

There's less subtle stuff too and it's all set against a very realistic and recognisable London backdrop. Yes, there's shots of the Shard, the Gherkin, and the Walkie Talkie but more than that there are the tower blocks and Lebara fronted shopfronts of Hackney, Chingford, and Walthamstow. References to Foot Locker, Cineworld, Deliveroo, Cash Convertors, and holidays in Ayia Napa show us that Dom and Kay are ordinary Londoners and that the world of extortion, internal enquiries, and anti-corruption units they've been thrown into is completely alien to them.

Dom, who has a fractious relationship with her father Dom (Robbie Gee) and stepmother Julie (the underused Jo Martin), opens up at night to her imaginary friend Hooty (another owl, this time one on her bedroom wallpaper) about the world of nervous puking, selling smack, gospel and drill hybrids, and chopping off people's fingers she's been thrown into but even when some of the action sounds, on paper, pretty dark it's always played for laughs.

There are cameos by Zoe Wanamaker and the ever reliable Alan Ford (in an old people's home, demanding 'snout' off Dom) and a wonderful performance from Patrice Naiambana as Kay's pastor, Tommy. A secret party animal who loves his Audi Cabriolet. But it's Ikulemo and Animashaun who shine brightest as Dom and Kay. The dynamic between them is excellent, their friendship is very moving, and, in the end, they get a lot of laughs. But do they solve the case? You'll have to watch it to find that out. I recommend you do.