'Line of Duty' attracts record 9.6m viewers

[cardiff55]

7 episodes. The first two were poor, in my opinion, and then it livened up and was going well. And last night's finale....well it was awful.
Just an hour of improbabilities and lining it all up for a new series. Poor.

Even I can work out that 'H' is that bloke from Steps.

[surge]

7 episodes. The first two were poor, in my opinion, and then it livened up and was going well. And last night's finale....well it was awful.
Just an hour of improbabilities and lining it all up for a new series. Poor.

Even I can work out that 'H' is that bloke from Steps.

Do you give any credit to this interpretation?

I really hope that’s the last ever Line Of Duty so that the message is: nothing ever changes, corrupt organisations destroy even the most principled people, power will always exert itself to protect itself, no reform is possible of fundamentally broken institutions
https://twitter.com/lottelydia/statu...62845669400576

[Rjk]

for the finale it had a 56.2% audience share which is huge.

[jon1959]

for the finale it had a 56.2% audience share which is huge.

'Mother of God..... and her wee donkey!'

[DubaiDai]

7 episodes. The first two were poor, in my opinion, and then it livened up and was going well. And last night's finale....well it was awful.
Just an hour of improbabilities and lining it all up for a new series. Poor.

Even I can work out that 'H' is that bloke from Steps.

Agreed. No doubt there will be another continuing series in 2022.
I hope the viewing figures are terrible. The BBC and the writers simply refuse to conclude the series and they are now stretching the rubber band to snapping point.
With last nights poor finale and ITV pulling the final episode of viewpoint after the public watched the first4 episodes, TV companies need a short sharp shock

[surge]

Sad to see last of @Line_of_duty but I really liked the way @jed_mercurio linked incompetence and greed with institutional corruption. Add in corporate culture of restructuring and backside covering and it felt all too plausible.

https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status...65126234071051

I think the ending will be seen as better with hindsight than it was last night.

If you think about it as a commentary on current culture then OCG being the big bad and run-of-the-mill police officers being far too willing to assist in order to advance their career makes a lot more sense than a police officer running the OCG.

[life on mars]

Agreed. No doubt there will be another continuing series in 2022.
I hope the viewing figures are terrible. The BBC and the writers simply refuse to conclude the series and they are now stretching the rubber band to snapping point.
With last nights poor finale and ITV pulling the final episode of viewpoint after the public watched the first4 episodes, TV companies need a short sharp shock

No doubt there will be another continuing series in 2022. and 23,24 ,25

[2b2bdoo]

Agreed. No doubt there will be another continuing series in 2022.
I hope the viewing figures are terrible. The BBC and the writers simply refuse to conclude the series and they are now stretching the rubber band to snapping point.
With last nights poor finale and ITV pulling the final episode of viewpoint after the public watched the first4 episodes, TV companies need a short sharp shock

To be honest that wasn't even my issue with the ending, there was a million ways they could have extended it into another series and made it more exciting.

[The Lone Gunman]

I think the ending will be seen as better with hindsight than it was last night.

I don’t. I think it’ll be seen for exactly what it was - implausible nonsense. Line of Duty got progressively stupider with every series. It was good to begin with and always entertaining to a degree, but the plots got weaker and weaker to the point of being genuinely laughable. For instance, the inclusion of the ‘Terry Boyle’ character at the start of this series as a set-up by the OCG was hopelessly feeble.

I really hope last night was the end of it. Line of Duty has run its course. Enough is definitely enough where this show is concerned.

[the other bob wilson]

I don’t. I think it’ll be seen for exactly what it was - implausible nonsense. Line of Duty got progressively stupider with every series. It was good to begin with and always entertaining to a degree, but the plots got weaker and weaker to the point of being genuinely laughable. For instance, the inclusion of the ‘Terry Boyle’ character at the start of this series as a set-up by the OCG was hopelessly feeble.

I really hope last night was the end of it. Line of Duty has run its course. Enough is definitely enough where this show is concerned.

I binge watched it yesterday (there wasn’t much else I could do in that weather) and I suppose the fact I stuck with it says something, but that was partly down to a feeling that it had to get better, yet, if anything, it got worse and I’m sure the last episode would have been universally panned if the programme wasn’t so high profile. By the end, I thought Hastings was veering into self parody and, as has been mentioned before, the “alright mate” conversations between the other two main characters were becoming jarring as far as I was concerned. A few weeks ago on here I said I slightly preferred Unforgiven to Line Of Duty, but the last series of that knocked the seventh aeries of Line of Duty clean out of the park.

[Enoch Mort]

I wonder how many people have realised that they have been spelling “definitely” incorrectly all these years

[A Quiet Monkfish]

I binge watched it yesterday (there wasn’t much else I could do in that weather) and I suppose the fact I stuck with it says something, but that was partly down to a feeling that it had to get better, yet, if anything, it got worse and I’m sure the last episode would have been universally panned if the programme wasn’t so high profile. By the end, I thought Hastings was veering into self parody and, as has been mentioned before, the “alright mate” conversations between the other two main characters were becoming jarring as far as I was concerned. A few weeks ago on here I said I slightly preferred Unforgiven to Line Of Duty, but the last series of that knocked the seventh aeries of Line of Duty clean out of the park.

I think you mean Unforgotten, but yes, way better in my view. It was much more understated, less self-conscious, more realistic and plausible, better acted - and yet here's the thing - it was more dramatic, exciting and surprising than all those gun fights in the streets, murders, killings, kidnappings, that were happening what seemed like every day in LOD.

[Elwood Blues]

To be honest that wasn't even my issue with the ending, there was a million ways they could have extended it into another series and made it more exciting.

Go on then. Give us one example

[the other bob wilson]

I think you mean Unforgotten, but yes, way better in my view. It was much more understated, less self-conscious, more realistic and plausible, better acted - and yet here's the thing - it was more dramatic, exciting and surprising than all those gun fights in the streets, murders, killings, kidnappings, that were happening what seemed like every day in LOD.

Sorry, Unforgiven was a, very good, Clint Eastwood wasn’t it?

[Mario Miethig]

I’ve enjoyed every series of Line of Duty, but now it’s obvious it’s come to the point that Jed Mercurio is struggling to maintain the standard of earlier series. Wouldn’t be surprised if Mercurio wanted to leave it at that, but the ratings the series got probably means the BBC will want to flog the dead horse with at least another series. The way Buckells crapped himself when the solicitor got strangled in his cell makes it obvious he’s not H/4th man.

[the other bob wilson]

I’ve enjoyed every series of Line of Duty, but now it’s obvious it’s come to the point that Jed Mercurio is struggling to maintain the standard of earlier series. Wouldn’t be surprised if Mercurio wanted to leave it at that, but the ratings the series got probably means the BBC will want to flog the dead horse with at least another series. The way Buckells crapped himself when the solicitor got strangled in his cell makes it obvious he’s not H/4th man.

I’ve wondered if there was an element of there’s never been a better time to be mediocre to the unveiling of H/the fourth man - you’ve only got to look at our Government for proof of that and, before anyone says that’s just me having another dig at Johnson, I’d say it applies to Trump, Corbyn and quite a few others around the world in politics and you only have to look at what the “big six” came up with to see that it applies in football as well.

[Vindec]

One of the H's achievements was to groom people into the Police Force and get them promoted to senior positions so vital information could be passed on to the OCG. Can anyone believe Buckells had the authority to do that as he was rising through the Force? There is no way Buckells could be H.

[surge]

One of the H's achievements was to groom people into the Police Force and get them promoted to senior positions so vital information could be passed on to the OCG. Can anyone believe Buckells had the authority to do that as he was rising through the Force? There is no way Buckells could be H.

(Spoiler alert): the first 'H' discovered was Dot who had been groomed by the OCG. The story we're lead to believe in the last series is that there wasn't one OCG but several splinter groups still loosely in control but on basis of police incompetency, ego, laziness and how individuals are able to be corrupted with the splinter groups plans being communicated via Buckells. We didn't see anyone be groomed to be part of the police since Ryan who could have been groomed mainly by the OCG with some assistance getting him into the police by previous versions of H.

I still think that makes a lot more sense than a police officer (Kate? Hastings?) being in charge of the OCG which is one of the alternatives.

[Vindec]

(Spoiler alert): the first 'H' discovered was Dot who had been groomed by the OCG. The story we're lead to believe in the last series is that there wasn't one OCG but several splinter groups still loosely in control but on basis of police incompetency, ego, laziness and how individuals are able to be corrupted with the splinter groups plans being communicated via Buckells. We didn't see anyone be groomed to be part of the police since Ryan who could have been groomed mainly by the OCG with some assistance getting him into the police by previous versions of H.

I still think that makes a lot more sense than a police officer (Kate? Hastings?) being in charge of the OCG which is one of the alternatives.

You forgot about Chief Superintendent Hargreaves (thought originally to be H) who mysteriously appeared and was shot during a robbery by the OCG on a Police Warehouse where drugs and weapons were stored. As for Dot wasn't his dying declaration in an earlier series who first referred to the existence of H?

[2b2bdoo]

Go on then. Give us one example

Anything really, extended it so find out thurwell wasn't actually dead and the raid was another set up.

Even at the end if Jo in protection somehow gave away in a scene that it could still be her and she set up buckles and that's linked to thurwell.

Even brought back in PCC Rohan Sindwhani who suggested he was bring stitched up, maybe he took his name out of it because it was him.

Or his boss, the old female person.

Literally anything else haha

Buckles has been in it since the start but to me it doesn't seem likely. Even the scene with him in the interview was poor, surely they could have given us more than mainly no comment.

[life on mars]

Try this It's a forerunner of line of duty and very good , great cast .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...ween-the-lines

[ToTaL ITK]

I wonder how many people have realised that they have been spelling “definitely” incorrectly all these years

and incorrectelly

[Vindec]

and incorrectelly

??????

[Elwood Blues]

Anything really, extended it so find out thurwell wasn't actually dead and the raid was another set up.

Even at the end if Jo in protection somehow gave away in a scene that it could still be her and she set up buckles and that's linked to thurwell.

Even brought back in PCC Rohan Sindwhani who suggested he was bring stitched up, maybe he took his name out of it because it was him.

Or his boss, the old female person.

Literally anything else haha

Buckles has been in it since the start but to me it doesn't seem likely. Even the scene with him in the interview was poor, surely they could have given us more than mainly no comment.

Perhaps I should have said give us a better ending.


I don't see why any of your examples are any better to be honest. For example having Thelwell as H would have been a bit of a cheat, he was only mentioned as a serious option a couple of episodes ago.

And PCC's have no operational power. What use would he have been as H to an Organised Crime Gang???? That would have been a silly ending!

Mercurio has said that he felt it was important to have a character who had been in it since series 1.

Which didn't leave much choice. Most of the rest from series one have been killed off or have been peripheral to the series

He also mentioned ending the story arc. He has. We now know who all the H's were. We also know that it doesn't end with H, there is obviously someone ( or more likely several people) higher up the food chain



I think I must be the only one on here who actually quite enjoyed the episode ( yes there are clunky bits such as the final rather hackneyed lift scene). And I found the ending perfectly satisfactory. ​Depending on your view it has either reached a conclusion (albeit unsatisfactory to some people) or has left the door open to another story arc and possibly a bit of a reboot with some new characters perhaps. Or Carmichael realises (as there seemed to be suggestion of towards the end of the episode)that Ted's opinion on institutional corruption is closer to the mark than she thought. Who knows what is in Mercurio's mind.


With over 12 million viewers for the last episode I can't see the BBC wanting to let this series go. Mercurio might be a different matter

[Elwood Blues]

I think you mean Unforgotten, but yes, way better in my view. It was much more understated, less self-conscious, more realistic and plausible, better acted - and yet here's the thing - it was more dramatic, exciting and surprising than all those gun fights in the streets, murders, killings, kidnappings, that were happening what seemed like every day in LOD.

Sorry, Unforgiven was a, very good, Clint Eastwood wasn’t it?

I binge watched it yesterday (there wasn’t much else I could do in that weather) and I suppose the fact I stuck with it says something, but that was partly down to a feeling that it had to get better, yet, if anything, it got worse and I’m sure the last episode would have been universally panned if the programme wasn’t so high profile. By the end, I thought Hastings was veering into self parody and, as has been mentioned before, the “alright mate” conversations between the other two main characters were becoming jarring as far as I was concerned. A few weeks ago on here I said I slightly preferred Unforgiven to Line Of Duty, but the last series of that knocked the seventh aeries of Line of Duty clean out of the park.

Knocked it out of the park probably overrates the last Unforgotten (which I did think was very good ) and underrates Line of Duty(ditto)