When it comes to TV hits Bridgerton and Line Of Duty, you wouldn't think they have much in common. After all, one is a fluffy – albeit spiky – period drama about love and marriage, while the other is a tense and thrilling police procedural concerned with bent coppers. That said, there are some shared factors.
Both shows have storylines relating to the unmasking of someone in the shadows - Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton and H in Line Of Duty - but there's something else: the cast. Some of Bridgerton's favourite faces have popped up before on Line Of Duty.
That's right. By our reckoning, five actors have done the double by appearing in these two very different programmes. All of them started in Line Of Duty, playing suspects, legal professionals, or members of the police service.
Perhaps the Bridgerton casting team were fans and felt that they all needed some corsets in their lives.
Obviously, it's not hugely surprising to see that they have enjoyed more than one role - actors have to pay the bills, you know - but we do enjoy an unexpected crossover.
Will we ever see Ted Hastings show up in Bridgerton? Will Daphne pop up as a suspect in a future series of Line Of Duty? Probably not, as the show is no longer on but a super fan can dream, can't they?
So, who are the surprising names who've shown up in both Line Of Duty and Bridgerton?
Bridgerton and Line of Duty crossover stars
1 of 5Harriet Cains
It's hard to forget Harriet Cains' role as Philipa Featherington (sister to Nicola Coughlan's Penelope) but her role in Line of Duty's season 4 was fleeting. Only the most eagle-eyed will have spotted it. Harriet played Jane Hopkirk, a woman Steve Arnott interviews when he is intent on proving Michael Farmer's innocence in the hunt for black balaclava man.
2 of 5Adjoa Andoh
We can't get enough of Adjoa Andoh's Lady Danbury in Bridgerton. Talk about gravitas! In Line of Duty season 3 Adjoa appeared as a prosecutor in DI Lindsay Denton's appeal against her conviction for conspiracy to murder.
3 of 5Claudia Jessie
Claudia Jessie might play the sass fest that is Eloise Bridgerton in Bridgerton, but her role as Jodie Taylor in Line of Duty required Claudia to assume a much more reserved demeanour. Jodie Taylor was Line of Duty Season 4's Detective Constable whose somewhat misguided loyalty to Thandiwe Newton's fallible DCI Roz Huntley almost proved her downfall. She was wide-eyed and lovable, but sadly not seen again after season 4. Bridgerton fame was waiting.
4 of 5Polly Walker
Polly Walker does a fine line in love-to-hate-her characters. As Portia Featheringtonm, Polly riled up Bridgerton viewers with her fortune-hunting ways until the narrative turned and earned her character a degree of sympathy as the Featherington family's financial struggles were revealed. As senior legal counsel Gill Biggeloe in Line of Duty, Polly appears first as a match for AC-12 boss Ted Hastings before she is dramatically exposed in season 5 as one of the H's on the inside.
5 of 5Richard People
Actor Richard Pepple played the Duke of Hastings in Bridgerton and PS Kyle Ferringham in Line of Duty. Pepple's Duke of Hastings may have been cast in a dim light in Bridgerton, but his character Kyle Ferringham, sergeant and authorised firearms officer, erred on the heroic side in multiple seasons of Line of Duty.