Mother of God, our nerves are shredded. The nation has been gripped by Line of Duty and series six is the most successful chapter in the police drama.
This weekend, the action comes to a head with a highly-series finale in the form of a bonus seventh episode. And we have questions. Lots of questions.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
Why did DI Kate Fleming and DCI Jo Davidson go on the run after Ryan Pilkington’s death?
As Jo pointed out in her interview, it’s legal for the police to use lethal force if life is in danger. So why did Kate and Jo do a Thelma and Louise from the scene of the crime, especially as Jo had effectively led Kate to her own execution? And why was she so reluctant to surrender once caught?
Was there any significance to AC-3’s Patricia Carmichael’s pen clicking during her interview of Jo Davidson?
Let’s face it, probably. At one point she taps her pen four times: that’s Morse Code for…H.
On which note: Carmichael – bent or just ambitious?
Carmichael, as we know, is shiftier than a waxed eel. Like a pantomime villain, she sweeps into shot only to (metaphorically at the moment) shoot down Hastings, Kate or Steve, make snide remarks or willfully ignore any line of questioning about wider police corruption. But is she bent or just really, really irritating?
Does anyone else look a bit dodgy?
DS Chris Lomax. Maybe it’s the resemblance to Dot Cottan, the original Caddy from series three, maybe it’s the fact he looked really put-out when Kate and Steve ordered him to dig up the floor at the OCG’s workshop, perhaps it’s because he mentioned going to have a drink in the same pub that Carl Banks boasted about the murder of Gail Vella before he was killed. Perhaps he’s just got a guilty-looking face.
Is Marcus Thurwell actually dead?
I mean really: would Jed Mecurio recruit James Nesbitt to appear as a photograph? Having said that, he did just appear in Mecurio’s Bloodlands, so perhaps there was some kind of BOGOF deal. Spanish police raided Thurwell’s sunshine hideaway and found two decomposing bodies, one of which they confirmed was Thurwell. But if you’re H, you’re probably able to work your bent copper magic in Spain, too.
Are we definately (sp) finding out who can’t spell?
I once got told off by a teacher for pointing out that she’d spelled ‘definitely’ wrong, but I am pretty sure she won’t turn out to be H.
Is Jo going to survive the night?
We saw the glint in those prison guards’ eyes. And the eagle-eyed amongst us will spot that Alison Merchant, who introduced something unpleasant into Lindsay Denton’s food and poured boiling water over her hands (series two) was looking at her with a degree of interest
Just who did Jo think her father was when she was growing up?
It seems Jo had no idea that her real father was the man she thought was ‘Uncle’ Tommy: she’d told Kate that her father was a bent police officer. Who is the man that Jo thought was her dad? Is he still a serving officer? Or is he a former officer, like Marcus Thurwell?
What’s under the floor at the OCG’s workshop?
Bodies? Weapons? H’s Bat Cave?
Who did kill Gail Vella?
Was it Pilkington? We’re thinking back to episode four when he threatened Davidson as she was at the front door to her flat and he pressed a gun directly against her head using the same ‘hard contact’ technique used in the murder of Gail Vella.
Is it the end for AC-12?
Hastings has been told that he’s retiring and AC-12 is being disbanded with the loss of 90 per cent of the team. Steve is at risk of being suspended, Ted is off, Carmichael is in charge…then again, we must remember that Take That got back together, so there’s always hope.
How does Steph Corbett fit in here? What’s with the cash in her loft?
We’ve not seen Steph for a few episodes, but is the cash in her attic (a different TV programme altogether) the money given to her by Hastings, or is it from elsewhere? And did Hastings give it to her because of loyalty to an old flame – her mother-in-law – or is there something darker to discover? For a start, there’s that suspicious mosaic ‘H’ in her kitchen tiles…
Who is H?
If we knew that, we’d be at the bookies right now. Is it DCI Marcus Thurwell, who we’re told is dead (BUT IS HE? Would Jed Mecurio really sign James Nesbitt up for a couple of photographs?) or maybe Chief Constable Philip Osborne? Or could it be DS Ian Buckells who has done such a great job of appearing as wet as a dishcloth that he might be pulling the wool over all our eyes? Others think DCS Patricia Carmichael is the OCG’s top woman on the basis that she’s got all the charm of a Disney villain and spends the vast majority of her time shutting down Saint Ted. And of course there’s the anagram theory: when Jimmy Lakewell told Steve to “look into the race claim”, a clever so-and-so discovered that if you jumble the letters of “race claim” and add an ‘H’ you get…Carmichael.
My prediction: Osbourne will be arrested at the end of the episode but in a final twist we’ll find out that he’s not the Fourth Man, or that he is but there’s a Fifth Man. Or woman. Or wee donkey. Or maybe Ted will wake up and discover that the whole AC-12 thing has been a dream. Either way, I’m predicting the lack of ends being tied up will mean series seven is on the cards.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here