Thursday, 27th May 2021 at 3:42 pm
Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio has hinted that restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic may have prevented more intimate storylines from being included in the crime drama’s recent sixth series.
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Throughout the seven-episode run, there were glimmers of a romantic connection between bent copper Joanne Davidson (Kelly Macdonald) and former AC-12 officer Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure).
However, this relationship ultimately never went further than a bit of hand-holding and some longing glances, leading some viewers to accuse the show of queerbaiting – the practice of hinting at LGBTQ+ romance, but not actually depicting it.
There wasn t a burner phone in sight on Wednesday as Line Of Duty star Nigel Boyle tucked into a Pakistani meal at his favourite Whitechapel restaurant.
The actor got stuck into a hefty mixed grill consisting of lamb chops, chicken tikka and seekh kebab after calling into east London eatery Tayyabs for dinner.
Boyle - unmasked as elusive criminal mastermind H during Line Of Duty s sixth series - was in the mood to celebrate after cheering his beloved Aston Villa to victory in the FA Youth Cup final.
The team won their fourth FA Youth Cup with a 2-1 victory against Liverpool at Villa Park, and brummie Boyle admitted he was delighted with the result as he prepared to eat.
Live TV viewership numbers may be down, but in the United Kingdom,
Line of Duty was appointment TV this spring. When the electrifying police dramaâs sixth-season finale aired in May, it became the most-watched, non-soap drama episode over there in 20 years, attracting 12.8 million viewers and a whopping 56.2 percent of the TV audience for the BBC.
The showâs creator and writer, Jed Mercurio, has hit ratings highs before. An episode of his edge-of-your-seat thriller
Bodyguard (which aired on Netflix in the U.S. and earned Mercurio an Emmy nomination) drew 10.4 million viewers in the U.K. in 2018.
Although
Line of Duty hasnât exploded with the same velocity in this country, past seasons have become a bingeable pleasure on numerous streaming sites (Prime Video, Hulu, Acorn, BritBox), and beginning Tuesday, May 18, BritBox will release Season 6 in weekly installments.