Mother of God: Has DI Kate been killed in the Line of Duty?
IF YOU thought last week’s Line Of Duty cliffhanger was unbearable, take a deep breath – because the ending of last night’s episode was downright excruciating.
In the closing moments, DI Kate Fleming – a goodie (at least we hope) – and PC Ryan Pilkington – a baddie through and through – have their guns trained on each other.
The screen fades to black... shots are heard ... the theme music plays... and viewers utter howls of frustration.
Has Kate (Vicky McClure) – whom we’ve watched snaring bent coppers over six series – been killed in the line of duty? Or has she finished off corrupt and psychopathic Pilkington? (Hurrah!)
And if she’s only wounded, will DI Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) – Kate’s partner in crime-fighting – manage to save her? We’ll have to wait until next Sunday’s episode to find out.
Thankfully, writer Jed Mercurio did resolve the cliffhanger from last week. It ended with Superintendent Ted Hastings, who leads Anti-Corruption Unit 12 (AC-12), whispering his ‘mother of God’ catchphrase when shown a picture of a DNA match for DCI Jo Davidson, played by new cast member Kelly Macdonald.
We learnt last night that the corrupt officer is related to Tommy Hunter, a crime boss turned informant, who was murdered by the OCG (Organised Crime Group) in series two.
Another twist last night was the addition to the cast of James Nesbitt, though only as a photo.
He plays Marcus Thurwell, a detective in the racist killing of Lawrence Christopher – a storyline that seems based on the real-life murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. The fictional case was being investigated by journalist Gail Vella, whose killing is the focus of the current run.
Last night will also add to speculation that upstanding Ted (Adrian Dunbar) is the OCG kingpin, known only as H.
In an online chat, Davidson’s faceless boss misspells ‘definitely’ as ‘definately’ – a mistake Ted made in the last series.
The appearance by Nesbitt comes as a surprise after the Northern Irish star said that he was ‘galled’ never to have been considered for Line of Duty. Nesbitt, who recently appeared in Mercurio’s Bloodlands on BBC1, told Radio Times in February: ‘I said, “Come on, Jed, when are we going to get a chance to work together?”
‘Even though Line of Duty had been shot here [Northern Ireland] for years I was never considered for it, which has always slightly galled me,’ he said.
‘When are we going to work together?’