Huge cheers in my house during last Sunday’s instalment of Line of Duty.
No, I wasn’t celebrating the fact that someone had dared to say Marcus in a Spanish accent again on BBC1, a full 28 years after Eldorado’s demise.
I was punching the air because Kelly MacDonald, pictured right, had finally been allowed to do some proper acting. And she was wonderful.
The previous five episodes had been one long sequence of stares and monosyllables from Jo Davidson, punctuated, briefly, by that moment of car park rage when the OCG van man delivered her new burner phone (I’m guessing she’d wanted an iPhone 12).
Whether Kelly’s performance during that half hour sparring round at AC-12 will be enough to secure her a Top 5 spot in the best guest stars countdown remains to be seen. It’s an equally tough call to predict where this sixth series of Jed Mercurio’s long-running police drama will end up on the all-time list.
Currently I have it vying with series 5 for 5th place, but that could all change at the weekend.
All it needs is for Mercurio to deliver a truly mind-blowing twist or revelation.
That he hasn’t managed it so far this series, does not mean he will not prevail.
However, a couple of things worry me. One, the ratings have been so good he must be under immense pressure from the BBC to keep us guessing for another series at least. And two, he has already admitted some last-minute tweaks were made to the finale.
I’m now picturing Mercurio in Chris Tarrant’s old chair, pulling his manuscript away and going, “But... we don’t want to give you that”.
I could live with that. I may have compared Line Of Duty to a panto recently, but that wasn’t necessarily a
criticism.
When it comes to bringing the nation together for a weekly round of audience participation no other programme comes close.
The fact that Mercurio is now writing for the benefit of Twitter and Gogglebox may jar with some Line Of Duty purists, but you cannot deny that it’s an addictive Sunday night ride.
I’ll keep accepting my fix for as long as Mercurio wants to provide it. Bring me Ted Hastings’ catchphrases, Kate Fleming calling someone a tit, Patricia Carmichael dropping sarcasm bombs, streams of beguiled brunettes falling for Steve Arnott’s snooker chic and reels of footage of Organised Crime Groups being criminally disorganised.
But most of all, please bring me more glimpses of DCC Andrea Wise’s horrific and mind-bending carpet at Central Police HQ.
Honestly, Wisey, who’s doing your interiors – Carrie Symonds?
