HANDS UP IF YOU’RE ‘H’
PICK OF THE WEEK LINE OF DUTY Tonight, BBC1, 9pm
This thing has been driving me mad for years!’ exclaims Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) in tonight’s hotly awaited Line Of Duty finale – and surely he speaks for all of us. For nine years Jed Mercurio’s addictive thriller has put viewers through the mill week after week, its succession of teasing mysteries forensically engineered to leave us unable to think of much else between episodes.
Now our burning curiosity is set to be satisfied with the answers to any number of fiercely debated questions, most of all the identity of the corrupt senior police officer known as ‘H’, or the ‘fourth man’.
At one point, loyal DI Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) playfully suggests, ‘Maybe we should let sleeping dogs lie?’ To which DI Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) offers the rightful rejoinder, ‘Come off it, Steve.’
No doubt that’s just Mercurio’s little joke before serving up a heart-stopping conclusion that truly delivers the goods.
Brace yourself for 60 minutes of sometimes unbearable tension, dizzying twists and turns, jaw-dropping revelations and those trademark, carefully scripted police interviews, which demand you pay very close attention.
Obsessive levels of interest in the show are sky-high, with last week’s ratings a record 11 million and a cliffhanger that left us wondering whether Kelly Macdonald’s rogue cop Jo Davidson has any chance of surviving the attentions of corrupt prison guards.
Meanwhile, following all the excitement over the addition of James Nesbitt to the cast as retired cop Marcus Thurwell, will the character’s sole appearance turn out to be in a photograph after he was apparently found dead in Spain? And will the case of murdered reporter Gail Vella, which has dominated this year’s plot, finally be solved?
This closing episode also digs into the past to bring up storylines and mysteries that have haunted the saga since it first aired in 2012. There’s even a nod to Tony Gates (Lennie James), the tragically conflicted corrupt officer from the show’s debut run. In fact, you might need a rapid binge-watch of past series to ensure you appreciate every nuance of the astonishing revelations.
There’s only one thing you can be certain of: we’ll be talking about little else come Monday morning.