麻豆约拍

“Your theories have ranged from the sublime to, quite frankly, the ridiculous.”

So says Craig Parkinson, aka the late Dot Cottan and host of the Obsessed With… Line of Duty podcast ahead of the finale of series six, undoubtedly the TV event of the year so far.

With Sunday’s episode hurtling round faster than the deadline for Steve Arnott’s routine health check, finally, maybe, we’re going to get some answers.

For a bonus pod, Craig checks in with creator Jed Mercurio to see if he can uncover any last-minute secrets - but Jed is keeping his cards close to his chest.

“It’s lovely that people are coming up with theories,” Jed tells Craig. “You make a TV series, you do your best but there are so many intangibles to how something will connect with the audience.

“For whatever reason, this season is striking a chord and we’re all thrilled with the response to it.”

One of the beauties of Line of Duty is how it gets the audience playing detective.

We‘re supposed to spot the clues, join the dots and see if we can finally work out who H actually is.

But is it part of the series six masterplan to throw the plot back to us?

“You hope that if you’ve done the job properly then you’re telling the audience where to look but also distracting them,” Jed explains.

“There may be a bit of sleight of hand or misdirection, getting the audience to consider some incidents or characters as more significant than they really are.

“But that’s all part of the puzzle and what people get out of Line of Duty.”

Social media is ablaze with theories come 10pm on a Sunday but at least Jed is able to rule on one particularly popular idea.

“If I hear that Chloe Bishop is Tony Gates’s daughter one more time…” rages Craig. “Can we put it to bed?”

“Of course, that’s preposterous,” Jed says.

But what about our beloved AC-12 characters – will they make it to the end of the series?

As Craig loves to point out, the tagline for this series is ‘Lies Cost Lives’.

That alone has been enough to give everyone sleepless nights since the beginning of season six.

We’re terrified that something will happen to DI Arnott, DI Fleming or, give me strength, Superintendent Hastings himself.

Episode five’s cliffhanger stand-off between Kate and crooked police constable Ryan Pilkington was the closest yet to seeing one of our favourites bumped off in service of the greater plot.

“One of the things that’s helped Line of Duty grow is that people have become so affectionate towards the AC-12 regulars,” Jed says.

“People root for AC-12 to stand up for standards, truth, honesty and good practice and they want the bad guys caught.

“The AC-12 characters are the audience’s proxy so obviously they don’t want anything bad to happen.

“Unfortunately in drama, just as in real life, our heroes let us down.”

And still, we’re left asking the eternal question, who is H?

If you don’t know your Buckells from your Osbornes, here’s Craig’s guide to get you ready for the finale.

Marcus Thurlwell: Obviously he’s dead now… isn’t he? He was first introduced in series three as a former deputy crime commissioner with links to organised crime. He retired to Spain but was questioned by AC-12 when investigating a paedophile ring at Sands View boys home in series three. He was discounted after the arrest of Patrick Fairbank but appeared on the radar again during Chloe Bishop's research into the death of Lawrence Christopher in 2003. Thurwell was the senior investigating officer in this botched case that journalist Gail Vella was believed to be uncovering before she was murdered. In episode six, the Guardia Civil raid Thurwell's home and find a man and woman dead.

Patrick Fairbank: Another former corrupt officer who was found to be participating in and covering up child sex abuse at Sands View in series three. Dot Cottan’s dying declaration provided information that led to his arrest and imprisonment. Fairbank currently appears to be in poor mental health.

Chief Constable Philip Osborne: Has been around since series one when he led the counter terrorism unit that DI Arnott worked for. He has links to Thurlwell who assigned Osborne as inspector in the case of the death of Lawrence Christopher. Steve clocks that Osborne would benefit from Vella’s death and it should be noted that Osborne is behind the drastic cutbacks at AC-12.

Detective Superintendent Ian Buckells ('the absolute wally'): In 2003, he was detective constable under Osborne and Thurlwell in the investigation into Laurence’s death. Now, he is the senior office in charge of the investigation into the Vella murder and was found to have removed the senior officer looking into organised crime links in the case. He was arrested and imprisoned by AC-12 but, according to Detective Chief Superintendent Patricia Carmichael, his lawyers are now alleging unlawful imprisonment and pushing for release.

DCS Patricia Carmichael ('Pass-agg Pat'): Is she a jobsworth? Is she bent? She did rise through the ranks pretty fast and she has been in full force this series and is set to be in command of the new merger between AC-12, AC-3 and AC-9.

Superintendent Hastings: No. Surely not. But then he did need watching last season, didn’t he? And did he really manage to convince Carmichael and the whole world that he didn't need questioning? He was given a large sum of money in season five and now we’ve found out he gave it to Steph Corbett. Out of guilt? Steve is hopefully going to find out why.

So there are more questions than answers.

We need a rest before the big showdown on Sunday evening.

Bring your notes and see you there.