Line of Duty #7

New to Tattle Life? Click "Order Thread by Most Liked Posts" button below to get an idea of what the site is about:
BBC 4 have been showing a police drama that was the original LOD. Its early 90s and is based on police corruption. Between the Lines was brilliant. Should be on catchup. I'm on episode 12 now.
I vaguely remember enjoying it first time around. I can't recall the details but it was nicknamed Between the Sheets. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2
I think Buckles was a Caddy. He is taking the fall for the top person.
In the interview he was saying about the others as pairs and said and then there was 'Just me...' it was as if he was about to say ' and' when Hastings interrupted him with his interpretation. So there is probably someone else.
Also why would they bring in a big actor such as James Nesbitt and only use him in stills? Do we see his face as the dead man in Spain? Are the Spanish police corrupt and does it go European?
The smirk at the end (in the Police cell)and the promotions of those close to the Deputy Chief also throw another hook out.
I would also liked to have seen the prison guards interrogated, why no one reported those was beyond me.

The ending was a good one as it has left it open. What a series!
I think he was in bloodlands which jed was involved in, and either he wanted a part in LOD or Jed wanted a favour?

Have to admit I was a bit excited when I saw wee Jimmy as thought it would open up a whole other avenue about Belfast/RUC/Ted......well that turned out to de a damp squib!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3
New to this thread as I never watch LOD on time so was trying to avoid spoilers 😆 caught up now.
Off topic but is baptiste spin off from the missing?
Yes Baptiste is the spin-off. There's a second series of Baptiste coming this year so something to look forward to :) I've actually never seen The Missing so I need to go back and watch that first!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2
I'd recommend the shield if you like US dramas, except that one has you rooting for the bent coppers funnily enough 😂
My dad has recently been going on about this to me telling me to watch it !
 
I want to like it, I’ve read people’s replies about how rewatching the finale or taking some time has made them think again but...I just can’t. The finale was (for me) a massive let down. The moment Buckles walked in it was like someone let off a very noisy fart. It just killed the atmosphere. He was so incompetent and throughout the show there was never a flicker of anything else but just being rubbish at his job. So for him to be a caddy with the knowledge and ability to pull off feats like Original Dot, Gill Biggeloe and Derek Hilton is laughable. Dryden would have been a better example. I was never expecting it to be done and dusted in a neat bow but I was expecting more than Buckles.

Also when did they change H to ‘the fourth man’. Someone here suggested that they said H was Hillside but looking back I don’t believe they ever said that in the show?
I think it was after rewatching Dot’s dying declaration, Steve notices his hand movements as “four dots” if you like. Obviously they still mention “H” though or say “the fourth man once code named H” and I think it confuses the issue a bit. No it was never mentioned as Hillside as far as I know, though a lot of viewers theorised that H stood for Hillside 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1
I watched LoD 1 for the third time (!) over the weekend. It's amazing how many clues you can pick up when you know the outcome. It's like playing spot the baddy. You can see how the grudge/hatred between Steve and Osborne began. There's got to be another series so that Steve can nail him.
On a lighter note - I prefer Steve clean-shaven and Kate should have kept the fringe; it really suits her!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6
Also why would they bring in a big actor such as James Nesbitt and only use him in stills? Do we see his face as the dead man in Spain? Are the Spanish police corrupt and does it go European?
JN worked with Mercurio on another show and apparently begged for a part in LoD as he was a huge fan... clearly they made a joke of it!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4
Would really recommend the informant - bbc series lots of twists and turns on Netflix (might be on iPlayer as well?), about a guy being recruited as a terrorism informer into a covert op
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4
JN worked with Mercurio on another show and apparently begged for a part in LoD as he was a huge fan... clearly they made a joke of it!
Yeah I don’t think Nesbitt will turn up again (if there is ever a series 7). I’d be over the moon just with a photo appearance myself 🤣🤣


Would really recommend the informant - bbc series lots of twists and turns on Netflix (might be on iPlayer as well?), about a guy being recruited as a terrorism informer into a covert op
Ooh this sounds good. I’ve not seen Unforgotten yet so think that will be my next watch. I’d like to watch Luther again but some of the episodes give me the creeps 😂 absolutely loving all the recommendations.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4
Yes Baptiste is the spin-off. There's a second series of Baptiste coming this year so something to look forward to :) I've actually never seen The Missing so I need to go back and watch that first!
I thought Jimmy was excellent in the Missing. Worth a watch
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4
I want to like it, I’ve read people’s replies about how rewatching the finale or taking some time has made them think again but...I just can’t. The finale was (for me) a massive let down. The moment Buckles walked in it was like someone let off a very noisy fart. It just killed the atmosphere. He was so incompetent and throughout the show there was never a flicker of anything else but just being rubbish at his job. So for him to be a caddy with the knowledge and ability to pull off feats like Original Dot, Gill Biggeloe and Derek Hilton is laughable. Dryden would have been a better example. I was never expecting it to be done and dusted in a neat bow but I was expecting more than Buckles.

Also when did they change H to ‘the fourth man’. Someone here suggested that they said H was Hillside but looking back I don’t believe they ever said that in the show?
Exactly. All the stuff now about us 'not getting' the finale is rubbish, it was just a let down. They clearly thought the reveal was going to be explosive as they hid Buckles from shot until he was sat down in the interview room. I know there have been multiple cases of the mole/bad egg being an utterly mundane character in both fiction and real life but at least they could have done something with it such as making him a lot brighter than he let on then giving a bit of a speech about them thinking he was dim or maybe him gloating more about pulling the wool over their eyes. They can't build it up and offer set piece action sequences on one hand then try to make out it's real life on the other.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8
I watched Marcella during the last lockdown. Police drama. Very different to LOD but just as confusing at times but worth a watch.
I love that show!

In the first series the clues are def there. In a shot near the end Buckells is seen at the golf course where Tommy is playing. Also he let Dot have a word with Tommy in the police van after his arrest.

Did Dot know that Buckells was part of the OCG?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1
Exactly. All the stuff now about us 'not getting' the finale is rubbish, it was just a let down. They clearly thought the reveal was going to be explosive as they hid Buckles from shot until he was sat down in the interview room. I know there have been multiple cases of the mole/bad egg being an utterly mundane character in both fiction and real life but at least they could have done something with it such as making him a lot brighter than he let on then giving a bit of a speech about them thinking he was dim or maybe him gloating more about pulling the wool over their eyes. They can't build it up and offer set piece action sequences on one hand then try to make out it's real life on the other.
I think part of the problem with the reveal for me was that as soon as they said Lighthouse and the murder case, you knew had to be Buckells because Osbourne wasn’t involved in Lighthouse to the extent he’d be writing notes.

They obviously wanted you to think Osbourne, down to having a police officer who looked vaguely like him from the back escorting Buckells in, but it couldn’t have been. So they had the big X factor style reveal... of the only person it could be.

If they hadn’t just ruled out Osbourne, then Buckells would have been a massive shock and the reveal would have worked, IMO.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4
Sorry if this has already been mentioned but, this thread is so fast. Didn’t someone on a previous thread mention they knew someone who knew the actor Buckells and he said, he wasn’t H but, was being set up to look like it? I initially took that as when he was originally arrested but, now I’m not sure.
 
Series 1 of LoD was its best IMO. I think this series - although entertaining - was a bit silly in comparison to when it was actually a serious police drama in series 1. I felt that some of the stuff in series 6 was a bit parody-ish. Like JM was reading these fan threads and taking notes of every cliche that we laugh about - like the Ted-isms - and then had completely overdone them like an in-joke. I’m not upset that Buckles was the 4th man as it does make sense especially with his links to cases over the course of all 6 series, but the episode came over a damp squib.
There were also inconsistencies- like Carmichael has been so all over Ted and adamant there’s no institutionalised corruption and that Buckles was being held on loose evidence but then didn’t want to be involved in the final interview ? The only logic I can think of for that was that Ted must have spoke to her about the evidence they had after fessing to Steve and Kate about the 50k and so she couldn’t do anything but let it run. The part when Kate was suddenly with the counsellor was an odd intersection too. And after solving the biggest case ever that they’ve been working on for 10 years - only 2 of them go the pub?? 😂
I do think they’ve left it very open for a series 7 of the BBC want one. With Ted confessing to Carmichael at the end and then she was left with the info - which she didn’t seem to want to know - it could be a new series with Carmichael at the helm as she seems unsure of whether she is right about the 0 corruption in respect of Osborne at the end of the final episode
 
  • Like
Reactions: 7
According to an article in today's Telegraph the BBC is in talks with the LoD makers about another series.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4
I enjoyed the finale but I feel Jed Mercurio butchered Kate’s character over the past 2 series like he had no idea what to do with her now she couldn’t go undercover. She became a plot device for MIT and Davidson.

Her major life changes between S5 and S6 were unexplained and we were left to draw our own conclusions (left AC-12, rift with Hastings, marriage collapsed, lost custody of her son). The Kate and Davidson storyline was dropped without any resolution despite her almost being murdered 2 days before (yes I checked .

I know Kate has always been written as cool and repressed and inexpressive but in S6 Vicky McClure’s face was working overtime to try and fill in the gaps (a credit to her acting - I love her).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 11
Anyone got any recommendations for shows to watch now ? 😂 I’m stuck for something to put on. Anything recent that was good?
Loads of good shows to watch, depends on how you view, streaming or streaming/downloading, not all cop shows, not always award winners but all very watchable

Succession, two seasons with the superb Brian Cox in the lead


Goliath, three seasons with another on the way, Billy Bob Thornton at the helm


Lucifer, five seasons, season 6 (final) later this year, another brit at the wheel, Tom Ellis


Lots more but those three came to mind first.
 
I love that show!

In the first series the clues are def there. In a shot near the end Buckells is seen at the golf course where Tommy is playing. Also he let Dot have a word with Tommy in the police van after his arrest.

Did Dot know that Buckells was part of the OCG?
I can’t wait to do a re watch. I’ll be like that women from gogglewatch taking notes 😂
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: 5
Homeland on Netflix (and C4) is bloody amazing tv - heart pounding stuff. It went a bit squiff in series 3 I think it was, but someone told me to stick with it and it picked up again.
Similar to LOD, but CIA in America - spies etc. There are twists, turns, shocks and surprises - series 8 last year was the last one ever - I was gutted!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2