Line of Duty: Martin Compston shuts down return

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Actor Will Mellor is best known for his acting work having starred in Line of Duty, Hollyoaks, Broadchurch, Coronation Street and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. Last year he featured in Strictly Come Dancing and narrowly ended up missing out in the grand final of the BBC series after getting voted out in a controversial dance-off. However, he is venturing into new territory with his true crime series Cops Who Kill With Will Mellor.

Will and a group of crime experts including psychologist Serena Simmons will be looking over cases of rogue police officers including Wayne Couzens, who murdered marketing executive Sarah Everard in 2021 as she was making her way home from a friend’s place in central London.

Some of the other cases Will and the team will be looking at include Madallin Jones, the wife of police officer Steven Jones; police officer Darren Mckie’s brutal murder of his wife and fellow officer Leanne Dodd; Alice Farquharson’s murder at the hands of her husband and retired Scottish police officer Keith; among others.

Will of course is known for playing a police officer in both Channel 4’s comedy No Offence and BBC’s Line of Duty, the latter of which focuses on a vast network of corruption within the force.

He starred in season three of Line of Duty as PC Rod Kennedy in 2016 with his team of armed officers suspected of being led by a bent copper.

Sadly, Rob met a tragic end in the show after it looked like his murder was framed as a suicide with the all-powerful organised crime group continued to run their operations unchecked.

Reflecting on how Line of Duty compared to his new programme, Will said: “Well, obviously for me it’s different acting and this is reality and very different. I play a part of armed police, so I wasn’t a part of any corruption.

“My character ended up getting hung in the series because I was one of the innocent ones.

“So, it’s very very different. I think Line of Duty and Jed Mercurio is an unbelievable writer and his attention to detail is phenomenal and it’s very true to life.

“I think I believe but I’m not a police officer, I’ve never worked in the Met or as a detective, I’ve played detectives, I was in a series called No Offence as a Manchester detective police series that I was in for three series.”

Will went on to say: “So, I’ve acted and been amongst it that side and doing all that with scripts is very different when you’re there reading about true crime with real detectives and psychologists and you put yourself in the shoes of theses victims, it’s a very, very different mindset.

“And it did affect me. It affected me more. Obviously, when you’re doing acting you are acting and you are portraying the character you play as best you can.

“But when you’re walking in the footsteps of somebody who’s been murdered or been to the scene of the crime, it’s something that stays with you.”

He added: “And it did stay with me but it is very important as well and I was glad I was chosen to do it.”

On whether it had changed his perception of the police, Will said these rogue officers were in the minority and he would take people at “face value” rather than having preconceptions.

Will admitted it was tough doing the show, saying there were options he was left shocked and sickened by the details of the crime.

One moment which stuck with him was watching the dash cam footage captured of Couzens getting Everard into the back of his car when the police officer kidnapped her.

Despite the dark nature of the series, Will hoped the series would shine a light on these heinous crimes in the hopes they could be averted in the future, particularly with more damning reports emerging about the vetting process and rogue officers.

Most recently, there were revelations about Metropolitan Police officers sharing horrific messages in a WhatsApp group which included Couzens,

Will said: “It’s important to keep the conversation going and it’s vital and how we move forward.

“When bad things happen, it’s what we learn from it that’s important. We can’t let these things die down without making changes and making sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Cops Who Kill With Will Mellor premieres on Crime + Investigation on Monday March 6 at 10pm and on Crime+Investigation PLAY on March 7

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