With Season 6 of Line Of Duty coming to an end, the final reveal of the elusive 'H' has divided viewers with some fans expecting more of an 'Urgent Exit Required' moment.
Ultimately, the reveal of 'The Fourth Man' was someone that was more bumbling than Machiavellian.
As always, consider this to be your spoiler alert warning if you've not seen the episode yet.
As Season 6 came to a close, we learned that Ted is fighting his forced retirement, Carmichael has been tasked with carrying the flame of anti-corruption, and it's still unknown how complicit Chief Constable Osborne was in the murder of Gail Vella.
Aside from this, there are a lot of other unsawerred questions.
For example, DI Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) told Carmichael he wanted to investigate the police officers who served on the deliberately-botched Lawrence Christopher case, one of whom was Osborne. In response, she told him that historic anti-corruption cases were not a priority. Is she bent or just apathetic?
Elsewhere, Carmichael also has to deal with Ted's confession about giving £50,000 to Steph Corbett, nobody knows who killed Marcus Thurwell or why it happened.
Fianlly, who arranged the documents for Jo Davidson's prison transfer?
Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey, there's a lot to unpack with question marks still lingering. However, Season 7 is likely.
Here's what has been said on the prospect of more Line of Duty episodes...
In a statement that was released today, BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore was asked about Season 7 and she said: “I’m looking forward to having a conversation with the team about where we go next and what the future of the series might be.”
Moore added: “Addictive event television, Line of Duty has kept the nation guessing for the last seven weeks, so it's no surprise that last night's jaw-dropping finale set a ratings record.”
Elsewhere in the statement, Moore hailed Mercurio as “a master of his craft” and said: “I would like to congratulate him and the entire cast and crew for delivering such an incredible drama series.”
In the run-up to the Line of Duty Season 6 premiere, the show's writer/creator Jed Mercurio was coy about discussing the future of the hit drama, telling Radio Times that the prospect of a continuation was uncertain.
“We’re in a situation where it’s not entirely clear that there will be a seventh series. We would hope there could be. But we’re having to do our planning coming out of COVID, and a whole bunch of other things, around the idea that these things aren’t guaranteed at all now.”
“A lot of it depends on the key creatives – that’s me and the main actors – finding new stories to tell within that universe,” he added.
Later on in the conversation, Mercurio did express his concern that, “Line of Duty may have reached ‘the Chandrasekhar Limit’, at which a mass collapses under its own gravitational force" but overall, the consensus seems to to be positive towards Season 7.
During another interview with Jay Rayner on the Out To Lunch podcast, Mercurio gave his strongest indication yet that Line Of Duty will continue beyond Season 6..
While stating that he's not 100% sure if the show will get a seventh season, Mercurio said: "I really want to carry on with Line of Duty... I think that season 6 proves that there is much more ground for us still to cover."
Adrian Dunbar (Ted Hastings) echoed these sentiments during a relatively recent interview on The Graham Norton Radio Show where he expressed his hope that the crime drama will continue beyond Season 6.
"I think as long as there's an appetite from our audience for the show, we'll keep going," Dunbar told Norton.
"Why would we stop? We've managed to keep the standard, Jed [Mercurio, show creator] rather, has managed to keep the standard so high for so long, and people love the show. I hope it does go on. But of course, everything is finite, I see Peaky Blinders is coming off after six fabulous seasons. When it ends, it will end, and we'll have all had the most wonderful time," he said.
Meanwhile, Vicky McClure - who plays the role of DI Kate Fleming - said it would be "a massive shame" if the show ended after season six.
"You know nothing lasts forever," Vicky said. "It would be a massive shame when that day comes. It will be a really sad time."
Her co-star Martin Compston also talked about the Season 6 finale, th euncertainty about the future, and the prospect of returning to the show for Season 7.
"That’s nothing different for us. Jed always takes months after… there’s stuff above our pay grade, analytics, figures and all that kind of thing that comes in.
"He always takes time off. But I think it is important to say, I think this natural story arc that we’ve been on for the last six years. We won’t come back just for the sake of it. That’s for sure. We’ll come back if there’s a story to tell.
"But, so as well, if it ends well maybe sometimes it is best to leave it. But, so, genuinely we don’t know.
Furthermore, Gareth Bryn, a director who has worked on two episodes of the current run, recently posted a tweet that suggested that a seventh series could be in the offing.
Reacting to news of the penultimate episode’s record-breaking viewing figures, he wrote, “Shocking! Only 11 million viewers for #LineofDuty!? Well, that’s embarrassing! What about the 50 million NOT watching. I suppose it IS helpful to have something for @jed_mercurio to aim for when he gets series 7 under way!”
Finally, during a press conference that the Irish Mirror attended, the show's producer, Simon Heath, was asked about the potential of a Season 7.
"Let's see how this season performs. We just enjoy making them one season at a time!," Heath said diplomatically.
Well, given the fact that the Season 6 finale had 12.8 million viewers (a 56.2% share), we're very optimistic that more episodes are coming.
When combined with what's previously been said about the potential of Season 7 and the questions that still have to be answered, it appears that there's even more bent coppers to catch.
Like every Line Of Duty fan, we're waiting on official confirmation.
