Things Arnott as they seem..
DUTY IS BACK WITH MOST COMPLEX CASE YET
pattern. He said: “The heart of the series is forensics. Ifield’s whole career is about facts and putting things together, making the right conclusions, based on evidence. “But he maybe has his own agenda about how you get to that truth.” For Thandie’s character, Ifield is “a fly in the ointment”. He added: “As a senior investigating officer, the facts are there, but then it’s knitting those facts together. It’s real Sherlock Holmes territory. “There’s a lot of truth in what she’s saying and trying to do, there is guess-work involved. There’s no way of knowing absolutely. “We do have a set-to, me and Thandie, and you realise that you just have to let the gloves fly and get stuck in.” Veiwers won’t be able to miss “the force of not only Thandie’s performance, but her character’s dilemma. She’s pretty formidable.” Martin agreed, and said: “All of Jed’s characters are so well formed and developed and Thandie is a fantastic actress who comes with bags of experience. She was an absolute joy to work with.” Line of Duty has had top-notch guest stars right from the start. In series one, Lennie James, playing a particularly unpleasant figure-doctoring, wife-cheating piece of work, set the bar high.
Keeley Hawes’ DI Lindsay Dalton was a hugely complex woman who kept viewers guessing right until the end.
Martin said: “Because the show has built up a great reputation and the scripts are so good, people like Thandie and Jason are genuinely excited to be involved. They were big fans of the show and I’m a big fan of both of them so it’s gratifying.
“They wanted to do well on it – it wasn’t just another job for them.”
Visiting talent is just part of the mix that enticed five million people watch the last series.
Martin said: “It’s got fantastic scripts, a really solid cast and always great guest stars coming in. I’m as guilty as anybody of binge watching Netflix with a hangover and we live in a culture where everything is so immediate – but Line Of Duty has that old-fashioned way of ending each episode on a cliff hanger and leaving people all week talking about it.” ● Line Of Duty starts on BBC One tomorrow.