Hang on, has Line of Duty just got interesting again?
Mother of God, she’s back! Whatsherface from Line of Duty series five – or was it series four? – who nearly had poor Ted Hastings’s guts for garters when his integrity was in question. Patricia Carmichael (Anna Maxwell Martin), that’s the one, leader of Anti-corruption Unit 3, who was brought in to investigate AC-12.
Well, it was AC-12, but now AC-12’S being merged with AC-3 and AC-9 because anticorruption numbers are being cut by 90 per cent by DCC Andrea Wise and Police and Crime Commissioner Sindwhani, who are deeply suspicious if you ask me because they don’t want Ted, that’s Supt Hastings, investigating too much corruption in case he uncovers any.
So they’re making him take retirement. Which is suspicious, you must agree. As is the fact that Jimmy Lakewell, the slimy lawyer from series four, was back, which made you wonder if there was a connection to Operation Trapdoor.
Just when you’d made that link, and were feeling pretty damn pleased with yourself, Jimmy was garrotted by fellow prison inmate Lee Banks, an OCG (organised crime gang) thug, also from a previous series. And if you know which one, go to the top of the class.
Line of Duty often feels like a blizzard of acronyms.
The latest episode was more like a special subject on Mastermind. Hang on, haven’t I seen that character before? Yup, but good luck remembering where.
The cliffhanger was a photograph of the criminal who shares their DNA with Acting Det Supt Joanne Davidson (Kelly Macdonald), who could be a baddie or possibly a goodie under duress from her terrifying OCG relative.
Tantalisingly, the camera cut away from the photo before you saw who it was. Playing it back over and over, and pressing your face up against the TV doesn’t get you any nearer the truth.
Line of Duty is both ridiculous (how many ambushes by masked gunmen are British coppers involved in? Come on, they’re too busy breaking up Holy Communion in inadequately socially-distanced churches…) and wildly compelling.
Everyone I know fell asleep halfway through episode one of this disappointing series. I nearly stopped watching.
Now, it’s only gone and got good again. Hang onto your hats for the clash of the titans on Sunday night.