Star Martin Compston promised an episode to remember and Sunday's Line of Duty certainly delivered with 60 minutes of drama that left millions of viewers 'all over the place' by the time the end credits rolled.
Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Martin, better known to followers of all things AC-12 at Steve Arnott, posted: "Tomorrow’s the big one episode 4!
"On paper one of the best @jed_mercurio has ever written, if we deliver what was there potential to be a classic."
Sunday's Line of Duty, rather aptly given its gripping content, followed the BAFTAs on BBC1 and the channel's announcer left fans panic stricken when introducing it, with the words: "with some violence and some scenes you may find upsetting."
There were certainly both of those as * SPOILER ALERT* the final 15 minutes brought a shock death as officer Jonesy was shot when the force came under attack, with Arnott also put in the line of fire.
Episode 4 also gave us quite possibly the best line of series 6 so far in a conversation between dodgy copper Ryan Pilkington and the heavily under suspicion DCI Jo Davidson about a prisoner found dead in prison.
When asked what the cause of death was, Ryan cooly replied: "being a rat ma'am."
One of the closing scenes saw Ryan then put a gun to Jo's head telling her: "I'll explain why I won't be posted off your team...and you'll listen before she was then the subject of a monumental cliffhanger when Arnott revealed to head honcho Ted Hastings that she was a blood relative to someone so shocking it left Hastings exclaiming: "mother of god!"
After he caused a stir with his intro an hour earlier, the BBC announcer remarked: "I think we all need somebody to talk to now don't we?" as the credits kicked in and that's all everyone was doing on Twitter as they struggled to come to terms with what they'd just watched.
One viewer tweeted: "The missus asking me to break down what happened & what everything meant from that episode as if I’m not shovelling my own head off the floor after the most intense & stressful hour of my life."
Equally shaken, another posted: "Me actual nerves. Like, me nerves. Shot to bits. Mother of God," and another reacted: "I’m going to struggle to sleep after watching that episode! It was so intense! So much happened! Might need to watch it again"
