Five series with more twists and turns than the River Lagan
Nearly two years have passed since series five of line Of Duty ended. So, to bring you up to speed, alISON BOSHOFF gives you a crash course on everything you need to know.
THE GANG OF THREE
The three central characters are DSI Ted hastings (Adrian Dunbar), who is in charge of anti-corruption unit AC-12. he is assisted by DI Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston).
THE HUNT FOR ‘H’
h IS the codename for a group of seniorranking, corrupt officers who are in cahoots with criminal gangs. Their inside knowledge means they have previously been able to foil police investigations.
In the last outing, it was revealed that h is not an individual but four people. We now know the identity of three members of h and only one name — that of the kingpin — remains a mystery.
THOSE TWISTED PLOTS: SERIES ONE
The tangled loyalties of copper Tony Gates (Lennie James), are the focus of series one.
he is named officer of the year but onetime lover Jackie Laverty (Gina McKee) embroils him in a plot to kill her accountant, who had discovered that she was laundering money for gangster Tommy hunter.
Jackie is murdered and Gates is blackmailed and framed. he walks on to the motorway to perish under the wheels of a lorry. But AC-12 discover there is a corrupt man in the force known as ‘The Caddy’.
SERIES TWO
There is an armed attack on a police convoy transporting a protected witness. The only survivor is DI Lindsay Denton, (Keeley hawes). She is eventually convicted of conspiracy to murder. Meanwhile corrupt copper DS Matthew ‘Dot’ Cottan (The Caddy) becomes a member of AC-12.
SERIES THREE
SerGeAnT Danny Waldron (Daniel Mays) is the focus of investigations — shot dead by a member of his own armed response team. The trail leads to a paedophile ring, which Waldron was taking revenge on. At the end of the series Lindsay Denton is freed and gives a copy of the list of abusers to AC-12. Dot is unmasked as The Caddy and escapes the interview room, only to die after offering up a ‘dying declaration’.
SERIES FOUR
DCI roz huntley (Thandie newton) kills forensic coordinator Tim Ifield after he becomes suspicious that she is manipulating evidence. A man in a balaclava almost kills Steve Arnott and DSI Ted hastings is accused of being corrupt copper h.
SERIES FIVE
UnDerCoVer officer John Corbett (Stephen Graham) is at the centre of the plot. It transpires that hastings had a relationship with Corbett’s mother while he was working for the rUC, and was the last person to see her alive. Corbett is killed after a tip-off to the oCG (organised crime gang) where he is embedded.
eventually, Gill Biggeloe (Polly Walker), a legal adviser, is unmasked as a corrupt senior member of police staff after an attempt to frame hastings.
In the finale, Arnott re-examines the footage of Dot Cottan’s dying declaration and suggests that he was tapping out h — four dots in Morse code — to suggest that there were four police staff in league with organised crime.
With corrupt Assistant Chief Constable Derek hilton, legal counsel Gill Biggeloe and Cottan himself already discovered, that means one remains.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN SEASON SIX
The big question: is Ted hastings really h? A trailer has been released by the BBC.
Confusingly, there is a series of ‘easter egg’ clues that can be reached if fans follow a trail from a Qr code on the front of a magazine in the original trailer.
What is confirmed is that Trainspotting actress Kelly Macdonald will appear as new character DCI Joanne Davidson. There are shoot-outs, a car crash, a balaclava man in police custody and the usual allegations that somewhere a rotten apple is preventing the course of justice.
In the trailer, Steve Arnott declares: ‘A whole line of inquiry has been deliberately suppressed to protect organised crime.’
Ted is angry, shouting about a ‘bare-faced liar promoted to our highest office’.
The trailer also shows a prescription for addictive painkillers in the name of Steve Arnott, who has suffered back pain after being almost killed in series four. Steve is also seen meeting up with former girlfriend nicola rogerson (Christina Chong) and telling her he wants a transfer out of AC-12.
RECOGNITION
LIne of Duty was named the third best British crime drama of all time by the radio Times in 2018 — behind Inspector Morse and Foyle’s War.
lINe OF Duty is on BBC1 at 9pm on Sunday, March 21.