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Did you hear that mass scream from sofas nationwide at around 9:34pm on Sunday? It was the sound of millions of blindsided Line Of Duty viewers exclaiming a single word. And that word was “Buckells?!”.
Yes, recurring character DSU Ian Buckells (played by Nigel Boyle) was at last unmasked as the corrupt cop pulling strings on behalf of organised crime. Once erroneously code-named H, latterly known as the Fourth Man and now forever associated with baffled cries of: “What the… Buckells? Are you sure? Yes but Buckells, though? Mother of God!”
Despite fan theories proliferating online, bookmakers taking bets and everyone having their own pet theory, the big Buckells reveal miraculously managed to still pull off a major surprise. But has writer Jed Mercurio been laying a nine-year, six-series trail of subtle hints all along?
Ian Buckells eh?
Despite being the subject of an H theory fairly early on this series (on account of some golf clubs in his office), we’d be willing to bet that the confirmation of Buckells as the apparent mastermind behind the clandestine network of police corruption had you surprised.
As Kate Fleming rightly pointed out, she s worked with him a number of times before and he s been right under AC-12 s noses this whole time.
Actor Nigel Boyle previously teased, during a 2017 interview with
Digital Spy, that there s definitely more to Buckells than meets the eye – and he sure wasn t wrong!
Ted Hastings exclamation mother of God! to the Jo Davidson revelation at the end of last night s Line of Duty pretty much summed up how many viewers felt as the action-packed episode came to a close.
DNA samples taken from PS Farida Jatri s home not only revealed DCI Davidson had been there, despite denying their personal relationship in the past, but also threw up a DNA match to someone else on the police database - a mystery blood relative of Davidson s.
And there was more than one blast from the past for long-time fans of the crime drama, as AC-12 visited bent lawyer James Jimmy Lakewell in prison to interview him after identifying him as the man who spoke to murdered journalist Gail Vella about police corruption.