UK Series Line Of Duty

[Barbara Fan]

From BBC press Office today

Now we’re sucking diesel! Robert Carlyle’s joining Line of Duty Series 7 as the guest series lead He'll play Detective Constable Shaun Massie in the next instalment of Jed Mercurio’s hit crime thriller when it films this spring.

 

[Barbara Fan]

Line of Duty read through

 

[Barbara Fan]

Meet the new (and returning) faces of Line of Duty Series 7! Further casting’s been confirmed for the upcoming series, which starts filming this spring More info https://bbc.in/4uBXv9I

 

[Whovian]

Will be very interesting to see how they manage to extend the series following the conclusion to Season 6 which would have been the right place to end the show. Stinking of the BBC going after a cheap ratings win on name alone in bringing it back rather than any story reason to continue the show.

 

[Barbara Fan]

I think Line of Duty peaked at the end of s3 with the demise of Dot Cotton and Lindsey Denton.
The next season was daft and the last 2 were not in 1-3 league. However they have got some good names for s7 and will be interesting to see Mark Bonnar back

 

[Whovian]

I think Line of Duty peaked at the end of s3 with the demise of Dot Cotton and Lindsey Denton.
The next season was daft and the last 2 were not in 1-3 league. However they have got some good names for s7 and will be interesting to see Mark Bonnar back

I agree with you. I've watched it from the start when it was on BBC2 - the first three seasons we're definitely better than the inferior season's that went a bit silly but ended up drawing in massive ratings for BBC1 on the back of how good the earlier seasons were. I'll still watch Season 7 though.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Cancelled prime, it's back to the DVDs and my first choice is series 6 of Line Of Duty. But then I thought, maybe it will be wise to rewatch series 5 because I don't remember what the situation was.
Then a second thought bubble appeared next to my head, saying: but I have bought the series 1 to 6 DVD box set, it makes more sense to start with the very first episode.
And so I popped in disc 1, and - oh my goodness, I had forgotten how insanely addictive this series is. From the harrowing opening scene to the shocking cliffhanger in episode 2. And there's so much more to come!!!

 

[Willie Oleson]

And that was series one. Tony Gates is a tragic anti-villain, the kind of character who makes some bad decisions (mostly his adultery) and is consequently cornered from all sides as if it were a game of chess. There's no justice at the end of the story but there are hints that drug lord Tommy is actually not the top dog.
The conclusion to the police raid disaster that's followed Steve Arnott seems conveniently undecided but at the same time it highlights the complicated combination of professional and human behaviour.
There's the law to protect us and decide for us, equally - at least that's the idea - but the law can't handle moral issues from a personal point of view. What's "legally right" can do more harm than good, the collateral damage that goes with the territory.
But that doesn't happen in this story and I'm not sure if that makes me feel relieved or dissatisfied.

The complex police ranks, and also military ranks, and maybe also hospital ranks (!) make it difficult to talk about the characters in their professional capacity, so I'm just going to say that I love the political goings-on, the dealings and the compromises, the loyalty and the self-serving antics.
Series 2, I think that had something to do with the mysterious misinterpretation of a call-up....or maybe it wasn't a misinterpretation.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I'm almost done with series 2 about the mysterious ambush and the mysterious Lindsay Denton. Very clever to write her as an unlikeable character, possibly with pyschopathic tendencies, because it makes me want her to be guilty purely based on her personality.
Heck, she could be pure evil, but that itself doesn't prove her guilt in the crime that has been committed.
This is all manipulation of course, they only show us her worst moments. Every gesture or facial expression is pasted in a context not necessarily narrated by herself.
Her brilliant roasting of the AC-12 Unit, as embarrassing as it was, made me realise that it would be uncharacteristic of this irritatingly intelligent person to make things look so bad for herself.
She's not the kind of person who would be satisfied with a good bluff, she needs to be confident of her intelligence.
I vaguely remember that they kept it somewhat ambiguous but I really shouldn't trust my memories.

Secrets, affairs, backstabbing and lots of hypocrisy make everyone look corrupt to some degree or another. Series 1 ended with a montage-style epilogue and it was definitely meant to be a surprise to watch Kate Fleming greeting her husband and child. We don't get to see that family life but series 2 starts with Kate having an affair behind her husband's and friend's back. Wow, just wow. Tony Gates had to die for his infidelity, I'm just saying.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Two episodes into series three and a little disappointed that the troubled and troublesome Sgt. Daniel Waldron has been killed off (maybe I've mentioned this before).
But it's always fascinating and mysterious and there's always something new happening.
The bitch is back, that's Lindsay Denton, and she's going to use every trick to prove her innocence. I must say, at the end of series two I was still none the wiser.
She was involved with the crime, she had made a deal with Jane Akers from Witness Protection, and she's lied about a lot of things.
Was it really only to rescue Carly Kirk from the clutches of evil gangster Tommy Hunter?
And why did she change her mind while escorting the other car to the police station, or the ambush, or wherever Tommy Hunter was supposed to be?
What exactly was Jane Akers plan when she was in cahoots with Dot Cottan, it was implied that she was going to sacrifice her protected witness but surely she didn't want herself get killed in the process? Perhaps she didn't anticipate that the criminals who wanted Tommy dead would consider her a liability.
Even so, why shoot the policemen and not her and Tommy? Why did it have to be fire? So many questions.

But anyway, I think this story is going to about a school or something like that, and child abuse. That would explain Danny Waldron's irrational behaviour.
I'm glad I don't remember any of it, makes Line Of Duty unstopwatchable all over again. The only thing I remember is the policewoman and her serial killer husband (sorry if that sounds a bit Hollyoaks or General Hospital) and the brutal attack on Steve Arnott. I think that was series 4.
Right. Back to the DVDs.

 

[Willie Oleson]

So many questions.

The various overlapping details are slowly untangled, sort of like a camera panning out to show us the bigger picture.
I wonder if it was planned from the very beginning to include a Jimmy Savile-style scandal as part of the big corruption scheme.

If there ever was a TV anti-hero it's Lindsay Denton. Portrayed as a scheming, unreliable and anti-social person, but the only mistake she's ever made was being too upright and doing her job too well. The irony of making her the "villain" in an anti-corruption show is simply brilliant.
But now she's dead, Dot killed her! I demand justice, heads must roll!

 

[Willie Oleson]

Holy sweet peeps, that last episode of series 3 was vomit-inducingly exciting. Dot Cottan escapes in a mini-Moldavia shootout but DC Kate Fleming saves the day.
Funnily enough she does an undercover job (again) to investigate possible corruption within Anti-Corruption. Will she ever go undercover to track her own moves?

I love how the various interviews build up from folder to folder and from item to item, and you're not sure if it's going to get them anywhere.
Roll on series 4, it's going to be out of the frying pan into the fire for DS Steve Arnott.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Two episodes into series 4. I had hoped to catch my breath with a light-hearted serial killer story but nothing remains simple once the AC-12 Unit starts to poke its nose into the investigation. Kate Fleming goes undercover with a hair style that makes her look like a Hogwarts teacher but it helps to distinguish between AC-12 Kate and Undercover Kate. She also has to pretend to disagree with AC-12 and make fun of Steve Arnott and that really shouldn't be a problem except that there's promotion fever in the air with the emphasis on gender inequality. It doesn't look terribly awkward yet but I wouldn't be surprised if this theme is going to reach boiling point.
Chief (ACC) Derek Hilton is not the most subtly written character in this series. He's almost comically transparent in his intentions, the sort of chief you'd expect to see in Starsky & Hutch.
Facts are forensics are very useful but how about gut feeling and common sense? Could the dopey Michael Farmer really be the conniving Balaclava Man? He looks like he wouldn't even know how to kidnap an egg.
Honestly it's a bit frightening to think that justice will blindly stare at the presentation of fibres and DNA. Don't they watch soaps and the storylines about swapping blood samples to obscure the identity of the real father?

 

[Willie Oleson]

The only thing I remember is the policewoman and her serial killer husband

Is that your official statement?

He's almost comically transparent in his intentions

So much for "gut feeling" and "common sense".

But - ha! - here's my plot twist: I planted those misinterpretations on purpose, to see if anyone was going to correct those comments with spoiler-y explanations.
Congratulations, you've all passed the Anti-Spoiler Unit test. You are cool people.
Roll on series 5, I'm getting closer to the not-yet-seen series 6 and the suspense is almost unbearable!

 

[Barbara Fan]

Holy sweet peeps, that last episode of series 3 was vomit-inducingly exciting.

It sure was and the whole Lyndsay Denton (love that actress in the role) and Dot Cottan was the best time of the show and Im sorry how it ended as it never reached that peak again for me

He looks like he wouldn't even know how to kidnap an egg.

For me the weakest link is Steve Arnott - He's such a wooden actor

 

[Willie Oleson]

and Im sorry how it ended as it never reached that peak again for me

The violent situation at the AC-12 office in the series 4 finale seems to borrow from Dot Cottan's violent escape in the series 3 finale.
Roz Huntley's spectacular detective work (pointing the finger at ACC Derek Hilton) looks a bit like "pulling a Lindsay Denton" to make her look a) more intelligent than most of the story suggested and b) a little more sympathetic.
But for me, the meatiest part of the story is not the Balaclava Man mystery but the fact that Michael Farmer and Hanah Reznikova had become the victim of corrupt justice.
DCI Huntley is clutching at straws to make the problem go away and in that regard it's not very different from Tony Gates' predicament.
And if her only goal was to cover up her involvement in the death of Tim Ifield - which obviously wasn't first degree murder - then I wouldn't struggle to root for her.
But to systematically sacrifice innocent people for ambition-driven reasons, no, that's inexcusable.

The biggest surprise in this story happened courtesy of my characteristic way of misremembering stuff: the fact that Roz' husband Nick Huntley had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. A terrific, emotional performance by Lee Ingleby.
In hindsight I find it interesting to realise that DC Jamie "not James" Desford's rookie cock-up during an interview with Roz Huntley may have been intentional, which contributed to the almost-abolition of the Anti-Corruption Force.
All in all, there was a lot to love (except for Roz Huntley's brown-nosing assistant Jodie Taylor, I hated her) and the competition of being "the best story/series" is not relevant in the moment I'm watching it.

 

[Barbara Fan]

s brown-nosing assistant Jodie Taylor, I hated her

Yes she was annoying................ very

The whole losing an arm to infection and back at work 2 mins later was so unrealistic!!

 

[Willie Oleson]

Just finished series 5. They must have had a ball coming up with all these plot twists and evidence hidden in pollen detected on banknotes, history of burner phones, time registration on traffic cameras and the revealing Morse code of a dying man (previously not noticed, of course).
Another great series with great performances by various actors and I'd like to mention Polly Walker who always brings some fun and fabulosity to her roles, but also Anna Maxwell Martin who is absolutely terrifying as the soft-spoken Chief Patricia Carmichael. I'd rather instantly confess than spending 5 minutes in a room with her.

I wonder if this series has had any effect on real life situations. I mean, if I were a policeman these stories would render me completely paranoid.
And so now it begins, series 6. I won't be able to finish it tonight but at the same time too excited to fall asleep. It's just not fair.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Aha! I wondered if that nasty little kid from series 1 would be rewritten into the series at some point. And now he's here as a policeman working for the OCG, but he couldn't have been the fourth Caddy at the time Dot Cottan died.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Episode 5 ended with a gunshot cliffhanger!
I'm emotionally exhausted and I'm shaking like a leaf but I just CAN'T stop watching. Took the day off because 9 hours of not-knowing was not an option for me.
Just when you think they've figured it all out a new name or clue is pinned on the whiteboard, and it also gets a bit soapier with the reveal of Tommy Hunter's sister (played by Kelly Macdonald) and a crime from the past that involved Tommy Hunter's son. And it's all part of the mind-blowing, bigger picture.
The picture that's being sabotaged by criminals, police corruption and people like Patricia Carmichael who's just a despicable person regardless of any criminal connections.
I'm so happy they're making series 7 - and why stop there? (incidentally, no news about a third series of The Night Manager which worries me a lot).
Back to the disc, God give me strength.