BBC News
By Ella Wills
image captionMartin Compston has played Steve Arnott since Line Of Duty began in 2012
Warning: This article contains spoilers for season six of Line of Duty, including Sunday s finale
The reviews are in for the series finale of BBC drama Line of Duty - and opinions, it s fair to say, are mixed.
Series six of the show, which first aired in 2012, ended on Sunday night.
Created by British writer Jed Mercurio, Line of Duty stars Martin Compston as DI Steve Arnott, Vicky McClure as DI Kate Fleming and Kelly Macdonald as acting DS Joanne Davidson.
It has been a ratings hit for the BBC, with the penultimate episode watched by 11 million people - a record for the show.
Line Of Duty star who plays H: ‘I’ve been sitting on it for a long time’
Updated: 03/05/2021, 10:50 am
Line Of Duty’s DSU Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle) – (C) World Productions – Photographer: Steffan Hill
The actor unveiled as Line Of Duty’s mysterious “H” has said he was “buzzing with excitement” on finding out his character was the talked-about figure.
During Sunday night’s finale of the BBC One series, DSU Ian Buckells, played by Nigel Boyle, was unmasked as corrupt police officer H.
Boyle, who grew up in Birmingham, said: “I was buzzing with excitement! I never suspected it because I know how Jed (Mercurio) leads people down the garden path with really good red herrings, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to things like Buckells’ golf clubs etc, but clearly I should have done! I’d fully bought into the idea that Buckells was low on competence levels but looking back it all makes sense!”
Line Of Duty star revealed as H on how they learnt true identity WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST EPISODE OF LINE OF DUTY, SEASON SIX, EPISODE SEVEN, AS WELL AS PREVIOUS SEASONS. DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU ARE NOT UP TO DATE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
The actor unveiled as Line Of Duty s mysterious H has revealed the show s creator told him of his character s true identity over a clandestine phone call.
Millions of people tuned into Sunday night s finale of the BBC One series to see Detective Superintendent Ian Buckells, played by Nigel Boyle, unmasked as corrupt police officer H.
Vicky McClure as Kate Fleming and Martin Compston as Steve Arnott
Well, fellas, if you’re only interested in catching bent coppers, the season six finale pretty much did the job. It turns out that DCI Ian Buckells wasn’t just an incompetent middle-manager who failed upwards – he was also H, or the Fourth Man, the final OCG plant in the police force.
But have we really seen the last of the BBC ratings juggernaut? Let’s hope not: there are still plenty of questions we need answering. And don’t you give us “no comment”, wee Jed Mercurio.
1. Is that the end of the OCG/police conspiracy?
Line of Duty: What happened at the end of episode 7
Everything that happened in the final moments of Line of Duty Season 6
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Line of Duty went out with a flourish on Sunday night s episode, but it also tantalisingly left the door open for further episodes
With AC-12 having caught their fourth man, Ian Buckells, there seemed to be every reason to celebrate.
However, due to anti-corruption s restructuring continuing apace, the trio of Ted Hastings, Steve Arnott and Kate Fleming were left with uncertain futures at the end of the episode.