It’s Blues’n’clues
Riddles of cop show as it reaches climax tonight
IT HAS kept over six million glued to their TVS for the past five Sundays and in tonight’s finale of Line of Duty, viewers are hoping to find out just who Balaclava Man is.
The BBC police corruption drama, now in its fourth series, stars Thandie Newton as scheming DCI Roz Huntley, who is hellbent on securing a conviction of a masked serial killer at any cost. But will she get away with it?
As the body count and tension rises and the (often missing) finger of suspicion is pointed in several directions, here are the key questions:
Is Hilton part of a gang of corrupt cops?
ACC Derek Hilton (Paul Higgins) has declared AC-12 “not fit for purpose” and has been trying to shut down their investigation into DCI Huntley’s policework by feeding her information on them. So why did he want to see what Dot Cottan confessed? Did he fear he was being fingered as the bent cop?
Will Arnott and Fleming leave AC-12?
After being thrown down a stairwell by Balaclava Man, DS Arnott (Martin Compston) was told he might not walk again. He later confessed to Kate Fleming (Vicky Mcclure). Will he have to retire? And with Kate’s undercover role exposed, will she have to leave AC-12 too?
Who is ‘H’?
In previously-unseen video footage from Series 3, viewers saw DS Kate Fleming ask dying bent copper Matthew “Dot” Cottan (Craig Parkinson) to name the officer he was protecting and he gave the letter H. Could it stand for Hilton, Huntley or even Hastings?
Why has no one noticed Roz Huntley only uses one arm?
Whenever she briefed her team or was interviewed at length by AC-12, Roz only ever used her right arm. Her husband finally remarked that the festering wound on her left wrist “was beginning to stink”. Even with her hand amputated, she blocked AC-12 from accessing her medical records.
How did Roz end up with MRSA in her arm wound in the first place?
She said she grazed it on a wall, which might in theory have happened. Or she could be among the two per cent of the population to carry the superbug on their skin. Or is there another theory? Did Tim Ifield, knowing he was about to bleed to death, deliberately badly scratch her arm to leave his DNA – and maybe a deadly infection – on there?