Line Of Duty Series 5 brings AC12 back to our screens for the first time since 2017, and for the first time in my years of TV reviews, the first episode of Line Of Duty has NOT been made available for previews.
Usually, this means that a show stinks, so given the series’ pedigree to date – especially with such game-changing openers each time, I was really hoping that would not be the case. Of course, it could mean that it still IS the best thing since sliced bread, but that in 2019, more and more people are breaking embargoes and posting spoilers online prior to the broadcast of a show, which is NOT on.
Of course, when that happens – whether for movies, TV shows or videogames, it impacts on ALL reviewers and ruins it for everyone, and is often the case for the latter, where videogames aren’t often not available for review until launch day, by which time the game is out, and by the time you’ve got your review online… you realise you really could’ve done with a two-week lead time.
As such, embargo breakers should always be served with a Reg15 notice, and be off to the cells with you, fella.
The first episode told us in the billing that a gang ram-raid a truck full of drugs, thanks to a tip-off from the police, and that three police officers are shot dead, so the inference – with this show – is that someone well-known to us will either bite the bullet or be the baddie.
When they did interview a suspect, that person made a really crappy attempt at an escape.
This first episode also shows that Line Of Duty is sticking with the conventional 16:9 ratio rather than the new-vogue of 2.00:1 which Jed Mecurio‘s Bodyguard was filmed in, but that was most likely down to Netflix’s backing.
As for content about this episode which would be a spoiler, here comes the spoiler section:
It was Maneet! Well, no big surprise as we knew her time would come sooner or later, since she was dodgy in the last series, spying on the team for Hilton, who ended up with a shotgun bullet through his head.
Thanks to her leaking info to her cousin – suspect Vihaan – she claims she didn’t know that it would lead to three officers getting killed, but at the very least, she’s out on her ear.
But then Maneet double-crossed the baddies, and that earned her a trip down to the jetty, hands-bound and then her throat slit. A shame that couldn’t happen to the continuity announcer who, as the end credits began, killed the tension by waffling away.
Meanwhile, the main baddie Corbett? He’s only gone and been a copper on an undercover investigation, chief! Yes, he’s a Detective Sergeant.
Oh, and there’s a UCO in the OCG… whatever that means.
As for the episode as a whole, okay, we got twist at the end with Corbett, and we could tell that Maneet wasn’t going to survive – since someone always has to die in the first episode, but the rest of it felt fairly plodding.
Corbett was close to getting fingered by one of his baddie team when he told them not to fire on the cop cars. Then when Corbett and Arnott had an enforced 1-2-1, Corbett made out that Maneet and the other murdered cops were collateral damage, and that Hastings is also as dodgy as they come.
And might Steve get pulled into the baddie’s operation, or does he believe that Corbett’s still on the level?
Either way, this has certainly improved on last week’s opener, even if it has bent my brain a bit, and we had another interrogation scene, this time since the cops discovered Jane Cafferty was the police leak at the start of the first episode. At the end, out of six individuals, Jane fingered one of them as “H” – while Hastings paced up and down in his office in seeming panic, but who is “H”? Which one did she pick?? It’s… that’s the cliffhanger for the end of episode 2.
UPDATE: Episode 3 began with the revelation that H is…
Meanwhile, a man has been photographed from the back, who is suspected of sleeping with an underage girl in a brothel, and that man has a strong accent… Is it Hastings?
There was a bent cop who grassed up Corbett’s operation, who then turned up and was soon gunned down by Corbett. The person was revealed to be DCS Hargreaves… and I’m really getting confused. It was entertaining, though.
However, it wasn’t confusing when Corbett realised the line he’d crossed, thinking he’d only wounded the DCS, and knew he was out on his own with nothing to lose, and concluded the episode by breaking into Hastings’ flat to indirectly exact revenge on his estranged wife.
We actually heard Stephen Graham’s Northern Irish accent as he terrorised Hasting’s ex-wife. Arnott said he sounded like a native, but it was even worse than his Rastafarian accent in Yardie!!!
There was even time for a bit of levity when a Russian heavy saw a disembodied body in the freezer and laughed, “Oh, I forgot about her(!)” Oh man, that was a head-in-hands moment, in despair.
All the while, it was a good episode, but it’s still too daft that Hastings is getting so involved when he’s too close to the situation. That’s as bad as Morven Christie’s dodgy cop in The Bay, who was finally sussed at the end of episode 5.
But then that ending… I didn’t think Corbett would survive until the end of the series, but I did think he and Lisa were going to escape at the end, tonight. Alas, for him, it was not to be.
PS. As was pointed out on Twitter, when Ted mispelt “definitely” as “definately”, that was exactly the same way ‘H’ had done previously, so is ‘H’ Hastings? It ain’t ‘H’ from Steps! Or is it?! Mother of God…
AC12 were taken off the case, but Ted pressed on without telling anyone. As he later went to the nightclub with the intention of meeting Corbett, and Lisa knew Ted had arrived, she said: “H… he said he’d come.”
Anna Maxwell Martin clearly got the better of Hastings with her calm demeanour, as he started to fall apart. In the end, he was arrested for conspiracy to murder Corbett, much to his protest. Meanwhile, the body parts of series 1’s Jacqueline Laverty (Gina McKee) turned up from that freezer we saw a few weeks ago, as she was mixed in with elements of Corbett… Mother of God!
UPDATE: Episode 6 was as confusing as a confusing thing. I had to rewind a couple of bits, but just as you thought things were wrapped up, another can of worms opened.
Who was H? Was it really H from Steps? Well, here comes the spoiler header, so DO NOT READ IT IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW!
It came out that Gill Biggeloe had told John Corbett that the person who leaked the info which led to his mother’s death at the hands of the IRA was a young cop, Ted Hastings.
One thing not pointed out until this finale was that since Dot Cottan couldn’t finish his confirmation about “H”‘s full name, so they looked to his hand. He was using morse code: “Dot, dot, dot-dot, dot.. dot.. dot.. dot”
Four dots. Four caddies: Dot, ACC Hilton, Gill Biggeloe and one more… but who?
Well, that’ll be series 6, no doubt.
And even though Hastings was found to be in the wrong about carrying out the undisclosed meeting with John Corbett in the nightclub, for which he was given a written final warning, he STILL gets to run AC12. So, presumably, he could still fall in series 6.
And with the spoiler header off, this tweet summed up this finale:
Line Of Duty Series 5 is available to pre-order on DVD, as well as in a Series 1-5 DVD boxset, ahead of their release on May 6th, and the drama continues next Sunday on BBC1 at 9pm. If you missed it, you can watch the first episode on BBC iPlayer for 30 days after transmission.
Director: John Strickland
Producer: Ken Horn
Writer: Jed Mercurio
Music: Carly Paradis
Steve Arnott: Martin Compston
Kate Fleming: Vicky McClure
Ted Hastings: Adrian Dunbar
John Corbett: Stephen Graham
Maneet Bindhra: Maya Sondhi
Lisa Mcqueen: Rochenda Sandall
Gill Biggeloe: Polly Walker
Vihaan Malhotra: Maanuv Thiara
McQueen: Rochenda Sandall
Jane Cafferty: Sian Reese-Williams
Lee: Alastair Natkiel
Miroslav: Tomi May
Aaron: Stefan Boehm
Sam: Aiysha Hart
Ryan: Gregory Piper
Sindwhani: Ace Bhatti
Tatleen: Taj Atwal
Powell: Susan Vidler
Slater: Barry Aird
Mark: Max Dowler
Maneet’s Rep: Jo Dow
Hargreaves: Tony Pitts
Hotel Receptionist: Thomas Finnegan
Interpreter: Natalia Kostrzewa
Previously on DVDfever:
March 24th:
Line Of Duty Series 5 comes to BBC1, as did series 4, following the previous three being on BBC2, and more power to writer/creator Jed Mecurio, who also brought us Cardiac Arrest, Bodies and last year’s Bodyguard.
Synopsis: After three police officers are murdered in cold blood during a hijack by armed men wearing balaclavas led by John Corbett (Stephen Graham), AC-12 Are alerted that the hijack would’ve required a corrupt police insider.
Yep, corruption again, but that’s what it’s about. How long before they get through ALL the main cast?
Line Of Duty Series 5 begins on Sunday March 31st at 9pm on BBC1, on both the tellybox and iPlayer. Be there, fella.
Director: John Strickland (Bodyguard, Troy: Fall Of A City)
Also stars: Martin Compston, Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure, Aiysha Hart, Natalia Kostrzewa, Sian Reese-Williams, Rochenda Sandall, Maya Sondhi, Stefan Boehm
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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