Line of Duty: The return of Keeley Hawes’ chilling she-devil

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Line of Duty: The return of Keeley Hawes’ chilling she-devil

April 01, 2016 - 08:25
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You wait ages for a great TV drama and then three come along at once. After Happy Valley and The Night Manager, the Beeb proudly presents powerhouse police thriller Line Of Duty.

Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton played by Keeley Hawes in Line of Duty

You wait ages for a great TV drama and then three come along at once. After Happy Valley and The Night Manager, the Beeb proudly presents powerhouse police thriller Line Of Duty.

In this compellingly complicated cauldron of corruption half the conniving coppers are lying through their teeth. And they’re dropping like flies.

In an astonishingly gripping episode, two officers died in deeply suspicious circumstances. But the main unexpected event was the shock return of deranged detective Lindsay Denton, who millions of viewers thought they’d seen the back of when she was jailed at the end of the last series.

With her cold-eyed shark stare, suddenly Keeley Hawes’ chilling she-devil was with us again. Busy artfully persuading an appeal court that undercover investigator Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) seduced her and framed her for the murder of a protected witness. Lindsay’s pretend sobs deserved an Oscar.

After Sgt Arnott’s disastrous day in the dock, his furious boss Supt Ted Hastings (Aidan Dunbar) asked him: “Did you have sexual relations with a suspect you were investigating while undercover?”

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” Steve should have replied, Bill Clinton-style. Instead, he just said: “No I didn’t.” Disappointing. A missed opportunity.

But with more twists and turns than Spaghetti Junction, this cracking story of intrigue is triumphantly delivering terrific telly. Line of Duty’s third classic series in row.

Crazed killer with a badge and a million sinister secrets Sgt Danny Waldron (Daniel Mays) was shot by a fellow armed officer. You figured he’d survive. He didn’t.

After an emotionally charged showdown with his police partner in crime, PC Rod Kennedy (Will Mellor) was found hanged on a derelict industrial estate. He was last seen accusing his dodgy colleague Hari Bains (Asher Ali) of pulling the trigger.

Was it suicide? Hard to tell. But scene by sizzling scene, the surprises keep on coming…

Harassed Hari is being blackmailed. And as the panicking plods close ranks amid wicked whispers and rancid rumours, something is seriously wrong. Nothing is on the level. And everything is unclear.

Confronted by a whirl of confusion, exasperated Supt Hastings sighed: “Catching criminals is tough enough – but catching coppers? God give me strength.”

When the late, not-so-great Waldron’s mutilated torture victim was discovered decapitated in his blood-spattered flat, DS Matthew “Dot” Cottan (Craig Parkinson) crept around hiding crucial evidence. The plot sickens.

Read my review on The Sun Online.