Martin Compston as Steve Arnott
Credit: BBC
For fans of convoluted, self-mythologising television filmed in Belfast, the underwhelming Line of Duty finale will have brought a crushing sense of déjà vu. We’ve been here before only with Mother of Dragons rather than Mother of God references. And with Jon Snow mooching into the great beyond instead of Kate and Steve heading to the pub.
Jed Mercurio, a feisty sort who loves a challenge and has proved willing to deploy a four letter c-word that isn’t “CHIS” when tackling critics, has outdone himself. He’s produced a season closer that echoes, occasionally beat-for-beat, the rise and fall of Game of Thrones. AC-12, it turns out, is the new Westeros. And in the end, Ted Hastings v H was revealed to be every bit as massive a waste of time as Jon Snow against the White Walkers.