All in the Line of Duty: Jed Mercurio on What Drives him Creatively

As one of British television’s most in-demand showrunners, 2021 was always going to be a big year for Jed Mercurio. The former Royal Air Force medical brand officer got his start in television as an adviser on Scottish BBC hospital drama Cardiac Arrest in the mid-nineties that eventually led to him writing for the show itself over its three series. And so his writing career was born. But it’s only in the last decade that Mercurio has hit paydirt, with 2019-2021 proving a defining era in his career and earning him a place in Adweek's International Creative 100 list. I'm immensely grateful that my shows have been watched by such large audiences. The success of Line of Duty There was complexity to overcome to finish series six of the BBC British police corruption drama Line of Duty under Covid-19 restrictions and the expectations built up over the last seven years over the identity of its criminal mastermind, known as H. The final episode was watched live by a record-breaking 12.8 million people on BBC 1, making it the most-watched drama in Britain outside of soaps. The divided response to the potential ending of the much-loved show, which also found a home on Netflix, has only sparked demand from fans for more. Something he hasn't ruled out. “After struggling to get a production order, Line of Duty started as a small show on a niche network (BBC 2), Mercurio told Adweek. "We were thrilled just to get on air. If anyone had suggested it would go on to become the most watched drama series in the U.K., we wouldn't have believed them for a moment.” What's next? Mercurio is currently putting the finishing touches to a six-part thriller for ITV called Trigger Point, with a rumored second series of the hit drama The Bodyguard is also in the works. He is also reported to be busy adapting a political thriller for Netflix, an adaptation of Fletcher Knebel's 1965 novel Night of Camp David, which will be directed by Paul Greengrass. “Currently I'm focusing on a number of projects I'm executive-producing through my production company,” he said. “Next up are a docudrama, ‘Stephen,’ about the Lawrence family's quest for justice following the racist murder of their son, and a bomb-disposal action thriller, 'Trigger Point.’ I've co-written a graphic novel, ‘Sleeper,’ to be published in August, but I haven't committed to my next screenwriting project yet.” Creatively driven He explains how he manages to retain his creative drive that makes him so prolific over the years. “One of my favorite authors, the late James Salter, once described how he liked ‘to rub words in his hand, to turn them around and feel them, to wonder if that really is the best word possible.’ I do the same with ideas. Quite often, in the end, I'll drop it. But once I'm in, I'm all in. I squeeze the idea hard.” Mercurio also explained that his inspirations are often drawn from real-world events, even if “creative treatment” means each project subsequently becomes “highly fictionalized” in the end. Despite being much in demand, Mercurio and his Line of Duty cast have recognized the rewards (and difficulties) of being highly engaged through social media, with Twitter his platform of choice to answer views and questions from fans. He explains he does so to ensure he has control over the narrative and correcting any incorrect rumors that may float around over his projects. Selective engagement “I'm immensely grateful that my shows have been watched by such large audiences," he continued. "I accept that individual responses will cover the whole spectrum, so I limit myself to engaging with people only over matters of fact, either revealing inside knowledge of the productions that might help people understand why things turned out a certain way onscreen or occasionally attempting (not always successfully) to counter mis/disinformation about my shows that appear on social media or via the mainstream press.” For others who wish to emulate his writing success, he advises they believe in their projects to see them through. "I would advise writers to keep exploring whether a new project is working and not to fear reaching the conclusion that a particular idea suffers from insurmountable flaws," he said. "Successful writers develop multiple ideas at the same time. It's only the ones they really believe in that they drive through to the end. When I was in the Royal Air Force, one of my flying instructors shared a memorable life lesson: ‘Takeoffs are optional, landings are mandatory.’ " Adweek's Creative 100: The Most Inspiring Talents of 2021