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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

BBC forced to explain Line of Duty CHIS reference after baffling viewers

Line of Duty was all most people called talk about on Sunday night as the long-awaited sixth series began.

But things were VERY different among AC-12 as we joined the team 18 months on from where series five left off.

There was a new officer on the team, DC Chloe Bishop, and Detective Inspector Kate Fleming had jumped ship to a new team.

And well, things didn't seem too rosy between Superintendent Ted Hastings and Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott.

However, the one thing that hasn't changed is the confusion when it comes to police acronyms.

Viewers are pretty well versed in OCG - Organised Crime Group - and UCO - Undercover Operative.

But the team threw a spanner in the works in episode one with the frequent use of CHIS.

The acronym, which stands for Covert Human Intelligence Sources, was used a lot during the debut episode as, Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson, played by Kelly Macdonald, arrived on the scene as the head of an unsolved, and very high-profiled, murder case.

DCI Davidson and DI Fleming needed a handler colleague to give up the name of the new suspects CHIS, who she believed could hold vital information.

But the CHIS was later found dead after possibly being pushed from the top of a building.

Their colleague would not give up the CHIS' identity (BBC)

And viewers were left so confused that as the credits rolled on episode one of seven, the BBC's voice over said: "CHIS, if you're wondering, is a covert human intelligence source."

By that point though, people had already been trying to figure it out.

"Me missing half the story because I'm googling CHIS #LineOfDuty," tweeted one fan.

Another said: "MOTHER OF GOD, thank you to that BBC continuity announcer explaining CHIS for us. #LineofDuty."

"Bless the BBC One continuity announcer explaining that “CHIS” means Covert Human Intelligence Source #LineOfDuty," added a third.

A fourth, sounding less than impressive, commented: "My favourite part was the announcer explaining what a CHIS is *over the end credits* #LineOfDuty."

"Love the explanation of CHIS as though everyone watching hadn't paused to Google it halfway through. Roll on next Sunday... #LineofDuty," echoed another.

We all got there in the end though. But maybe a Line of Duty dictionary would come in handy next week?

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