#340 - The Real 'H' (Line of Duty, Operation Countryman)

#340 - The Real 'H' (Line of Duty, Operation Countryman)

From Murder Mile UK True Crime by Always True Crime

March 19, 2026 · 1h 3m

About this episode

This episode explores the real-life police corruption case that inspired the character 'H' in the BBC series 'Line of Duty'.

BBC TV drama series ‘Line of Duty’, a police procedural follows the exploits of AC12 (Anti-Corruption Unit 12), based on the Metropolitan Police’s A10, established in 1971 to root out corruption within the force. In the upcoming seventh series they will unravel the conundrum of who is ‘H’, the Police’s highest ranking corrupt officer, who many believe was fictional… …but he wasn’t, he was real. This is the story of Operation Countrymen, the investigation to root out corrupt coppers' in the Police force, the robberies which led to its downfall, the lives which were lost, the 'good officers' who were worse than criminals and the man who was at the very top of the corruption - 'H'.  The dates and places of the robberies:  Location #1:  Daily Express, 120-129 Fleet Street, London, EC4 Date #1:  Monday 3rd of May 1976 Location #2:  Williams & Glyn's Bank, 67 Lombard Street, London, EC3 Date #2:  Tuesday 27th Sept 1977 Location #3:  Daily Mirror, 33 Holborn Circus, London, EC1 Date #3:  Wednesday 31st May 1978 Victims:  Antonio Castro Culprit:  Commander Hugh Moore, DCI Philip Cuthbert, and the many unnamed criminals they held evade…

People in this episode

Host: Michael

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC, Metropolitan Police

Places: London, Daily Express, Williams & Glyn's Bank, Daily Mirror

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