You might have noticed that DI Kate Fleming was not the only copper no longer working in the AC-12 office when Line Of Duty returned on Sunday night. 

PC Tatleen Sohota was also missing in action as the team got to work on a case involving Fleming’s new MIT boss DCI Joanne Davidson. 

And now actor Taj Atwal has spoken out to reveal why she is not appearing in the new series of the hit BBC police drama. 

Taj said she had to choose between Line Of Duty and The Syndicate, in which she will make her first appearance as Roxy Varma later this month. 

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, she revealed: “I couldn’t make the dates work alongside The Syndicate. I had to choose and it was not an easy decision.”

She said her role in the Kay Mellor drama was a chance to “play a completely different character”.

Taj continued: “It was not easy but, Kay is very hard to turn down because she is just so lovely, and I’ve worked with her so much previously, and Roxy was a just completely different character for me to play and just challenge myself, really.”

Taj joined Line Of Duty in series five, with her character having an instrumental role in helping establish UCO John Corbett’s links to the organised crime group. 

This series has seen a new recruit join AC-12 – DC Chloe Bishop, played by Shalom Brune-Franklin. 

Adrian Dunbar, who plays Superintendent Ted Hastings, recently praised her for being a “fantastic and absolutely wonderful” addition to the team. 

He said during a press conference: “Her character was given a lot of the backstory information that the three of us needed, so that means she had to learn a lot of stuff and carry a lot of information into scenes. And she was really conscientious and really clear and a wonderful actress to work with. 

“I can’t say enough about her, she really was a bang-on piece of casting and brilliant in the role.”

The first episode of the new series saw AC-12 embark on examining MIT boss DCI Davidson, after she raised suspicions with her conduct during the investigation of journalist Gail Vella’s murder. 

It also had some serious links to the very first season, with the return of Terry Boyle – a vulnerable man previously exploited by the OCG, who has now been arrested for Vella’s murder – and allusions to Jackie Laverty’s body in his freezer. 

Line Of Duty continues on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.