Line Of Duty S3 ***spoilers***

[bobb]

So it's that time again - time (for me at least) to be totally confused.

Just trying to work out who is totally bent, who is a bit bent, who is sort of maybe a little bit bent and who isn't bent.....

I wasn't expecting Denton to be back. Will everything be resolved in this series or will it run on forever?

[rafletcher]

I sort of liked series 1, thought series two was utter twaddle and gave up after 2 or 3 episodes, and now can't care less. Between the Lines it ain't.

[citoyen]

We've rewatched Series 2 to remind ourselves, and I now think I mostly understand it...

The most important thing to remember is that the key link across all three series is "The Caddy" (Cottan) - he's the go-between linking the criminal underworld and the corrupt elements of the police. Importantly, he only ever deals with the police over the phone, so no one within the force knows who he is, even the fellow bent coppers who work with him. He was the one who organised the blackmailing of DCC Dryden on Tommy Hunter's behalf, and the subsequent hit on Hunter when he was getting out of control. He's not above arranging for fellow police officers to be bumped off in order to cover his tracks, but Denton was spared because she'd never had dealings with The Caddy and proved useful as a scapegoat.

In the new series, Hari is clearly under The Caddy's influence, but we don't know yet why or to what end. The other names on the list will no doubt become crucial.

I reckon Denton is going to turn out to be the one who eventually brings Cottan down.

I'm really enjoying it. It's all very silly and OTT but not quite as daft as Silent Witness or Waking The Dead.

[Ben T]

My main theory at the moment is Dot has a got a friend 'in high places', possibly a politician/celebrity/big-businessman, who was an abuser at Sandsview. This friend, or maybe multiple friends, is keen to avoid being caught/killed, so is bribing Dot a lot of money to spanner the any investigation, or as in the case of Danny, vigilantism, against the list of abusers.
Slightly more radical extension to that theory is that Dot only joined the force in the first place or certainly got into his position within it purely in order to further this particular agenda - almost certainly helped by the 'friend(s)'.
He had Danny killed probably by blackmailing either Hari or Rod to do it, and then killed Rod, not really sure yet why - possibly to fit Hari up for it to get him out of the way?

What I don't quite get yet though that I think will become relevant, is what is the link between Tommy Hunter and Ronan Murphy - and what is Murphy's involvement in Hunter's death... ? The conversation between Arnott and Denton in the supermarket in the last episode touched on this but I don't quite get that bit yet.
I think this is what will bring Denton back into the current series.
Also relevant is Dot appeared to be really dismayed/worried at Denton's acquittal, and I'm not sure why that is either.

I think Arnott's probably straight, or at least morally if not always strictly legally. Some of the others, e.g. Ted, the woman with short hair who i can't remember the name of, are possibly legally straight but not morally - i.e. prepared to shaft people down the river to save themselves.

[bobb]

I'm not sure if Hasting's warning to Arnott about leaving the paedo thing alone (in ep 3) and his obvious link to the retired paedo (in ep 4) is a red herring or not? I think it probably is. I think Hastings, Arnott and Fleming are all about as straight as you can get in this show. ie they can be a bit dodgy but are unlikely to be involved in Dot's (and whoever else's) master plan.

[Ben T]

I'm not sure if Hasting's warning to Arnott about leaving the paedo thing alone (in ep 3) and his obvious link to the retired paedo (in ep 4) is a red herring or not? I think it probably is.

I think it's simply a parallel, but unconnected to Dot's and rather less sinister, attempt to spanner Arnott's paedo investigation, just because he's his old mate/a fellow mason.

I think Hastings, Arnott and Fleming are all about as straight as you can get in this show. ie they can be a bit dodgy but are unlikely to be involved in Dot's (and whoever else's) master plan.

Yes, but I think Fleming and Hastings wouldn't hesitate to sell Arnott (and whoever else) down the river if it meant saving their own skin.

[citoyen]

My main theory at the moment is Dot has a got a friend 'in high places', possibly a politician/celebrity/big-businessman, who was an abuser at Sandsview. This friend, or maybe multiple friends, is keen to avoid being caught/killed, so is bribing Dot a lot of money to spanner the any investigation, or as in the case of Danny, vigilantism, against the list of abusers. Slightly more radical extension to that theory is that Dot only joined the force in the first place or certainly got into his position within it purely in order to further this particular agenda - almost certainly helped by the 'friend(s)'.

He's a stooge for the criminal gang of which Tommy Hunter was ringleader, and was groomed from a young age to infiltrate the police so they had someone on the inside - he revealed this to Morton in their conversation in the car park (I actually thought he was going to kill Morton - and he may yet come to regret not doing so). The paedo activities were all part of what the gang got up to. It will probably turn out that he was himself abused.

Going back to series one, the 'Caddy' nickname was explained by a flashback to him as a kid literally being a caddy for Tommy Hunter. It was also made clear that Dot was involved in the conspiracy to frame Tony Gates for the murder of Jackie Laverty.

Going back to series two, it was revealed that Hunter was procuring young girls for clients in high places, including DCC Mike Dryden, which Hunter then used to blackmail him.

Ultimately, Dot was behind the murder of Hunter, but we don't yet know why. Akers told Lindsay Denton that it was because Hunter was getting out of hand but Dot must have had some other motive - either orders from above (this would imply Hunter wasn't actually the ringleader and was working for someone else - maybe a corrupt senior police officer or politician), or because he wanted to take over Hunter's gang himself.

He had Danny killed probably by blackmailing either Hari or Rod to do it, and then killed Rod, not really sure yet why - possibly to fit Hari up for it to get him out of the way?

Yes, that's pretty much what it amounts to. We don't yet know what hold he has over Hari but clearly there's more to it than we are so far aware.

What I don't quite get yet though that I think will become relevant, is what is the link between Tommy Hunter and Ronan Murphy - and what is Murphy's involvement in Hunter's death... ?

Murphy was providing Hunter's clients with access to the kids in Sandsview.

Also relevant is Dot appeared to be really dismayed/worried at Denton's acquittal, and I'm not sure why that is either.

Again, going back to the last series, because she knows too much. Dot was behind her being framed for the conspiracy to murder Hunter. The only reason he let her survive the ambush on Hunter is because a) she had no knowledge of 'The Caddy', and b) he needed someone to make a scapegoat to deflect attention from himself.

Akers and Cole were bumped off because they couldn't be trusted to keep quiet (both worked with Dot but didn't know he was the Caddy, but they might have been able to give away enough info about him for him to be in danger of being caught). We don't know what became of Prasad after the end of series two, but presumably he is still alive and may yet make a reappearance. Dryden too, and some of the other characters from series one.

I think Denton and Arnott will become allies and unravel the whole business.

[citoyen]

I'm not sure if Hasting's warning to Arnott about leaving the paedo thing alone (in ep 3) and his obvious link to the retired paedo (in ep 4) is a red herring or not? I think it probably is.

I agree. Hastings is slightly compromised by his masonic connections but I reckon he's about the most honest character in the whole thing.

He showed in the last series that he was prepared to put his career prospects in jeopardy by confronting Dryden about the business with Carly Kirk.

[Riggers]

An oversite on the director's and author's, on the arrest of that policeman, wot was supposedly about to 'top' Dot having, allegedly, lured him to the same place the other chap was hanged, was WHY didn't he, upon being arrested, simply say: "Check those handcuffs for any of my prints. There aren't any." "Hhhhmm, that's interesting Dot, isn't it?" they might say.

Still, I'll let it go, even though it irks me that in their usual police procedure, tiny details are deemed significant.

[citoyen]

Exactly the same thought crossed my mind, Riggers. The only explanation I could think of was that Hari thinks it's in his best interests to say as little as possible.


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[Ben T]

An oversite on the director's and author's, on the arrest of that policeman, wot was supposedly about to 'top' Dot having, allegedly, lured him to the same place the other chap was hanged, was WHY didn't he, upon being arrested, simply say: "Check those handcuffs for any of my prints. There aren't any." "Hhhhmm, that's interesting Dot, isn't it?" they might say.

Still, I'll let it go, even though it irks me that in their usual police procedure, tiny details are deemed significant.

I wasn't sure whether Hari knew all the phone calls to his secret phones that kept getting delivered were all Dot (assuming they all were)?
I assumed he did because Dot's the only one with a northern accent and he would be silly to assume Hari wouldn't recognise him?
But then when he arrived he said "who did you expect to be meeting" which suggests he does at least assume Hari didn't recognise him.

[bobb]

But Dot always put on a cockney geezer accent when making the calls to hide his northern midlands accent. Hari described the caller in his interview as being from London or the south east. I guess when Dot asked "Who did you expect to be meeting?" he was just making sure Hari hadn't twigged?

[Ben T]

Did he, ok,I suppose so then, I didn't notice that.
Yes now you mention it I remember that meeting where he stood up with a white board and pointed that out, in a way that looked as if it was intended to implicitly implicate Arnott.

[citoyen]

OMFG!

[citoyen]

as if it was intended to implicitly implicate Arnott.

If there's one criticism I have of Line Of Duty, it's the tendency to spell things out pretty clumsily in this fashion - it suggests they don't think the audience is very bright. At the very end of last week's episode they really didn't need the knowing looks at Steve, it was already pretty clear who Dot was fingering in his briefing.

Actually, I have quite a few criticisms of Line Of Duty, but I still think it's cracking entertainment. Tonight's episode was a reet humdinger. Poor Lindsay - but I guess she's best off out of it. Poor Ted and Poor Steve too - both up shit creek and no mistake. Is it going to be up to Kate to save the day with her mysterious undercover investigation?

Can't wait for next week's finale.

[Ben T]

as if it was intended to implicitly implicate Arnott.

If there's one criticism I have of Line Of Duty, it's the tendency to spell things out pretty clumsily in this fashion - it suggests they don't think the audience is very bright.

Well I'm not, so I kind of like that  and how it doesn't keep flitting about and introducing lots of red herrings.

do you think Lindsay hadn't realised he was the caddy till he offered her a hundred grand to keep quiet?
Until then, she thought he would like to take the list off her and take the glory of handing it in to AC12?

Apart from wondering why she didn't keep a copy of the email and just send it later, I'm wondering who she actually sent it to?

Also just remind me something from series 2 : Lindsay's 50k bribe, what was she actually being bribed to do?
We think the money came from Dot, but what was Lindsay's side of the bargain?

[citoyen]

do you think Lindsay hadn't realised he was the caddy till he offered her a hundred grand to keep quiet?

She never even knew there was a 'Caddy' - she only ever dealt with Akers in the plot to ambush Hunter, and Akers never told her who else was involved.

Apart from wondering why she didn't keep a copy of the email and just send it later, I'm wondering who she actually sent it to?

Hastings. We saw his email address on her phone screen.

Also just remind me something from series 2 : Lindsay's 50k bribe, what was she actually being bribed to do?
We think the money came from Dot, but what was Lindsay's side of the bargain?

She was being bribed to take part in the ambush on Tommy Hunter. She didn't want to take the money but Akers insisted she did so that she was directly implicated - it was a kind of insurance for the conspirators to make sure she couldn't claim she wasn't involved.

[Riggers]

Somehow, I thought Lindsay might just have made it. Oh dear. And when she said she "Thought it was Steve's car," and what dot remembered to take with him, dashing from the scene, does make you think: "Poor old Steve."

Next week is 90 minutes worth too!!

[bobb]

Surely Steve doesn't have use of the car as he's suspended? So that should rule him out? Unless he didn't hand in the keys so Dot could claim Steve could've taken it, picked up Denton and shot her. I guess with the switched plates, when they look for CCTV based on number plate recognition, they'll find nothing. So no footage of Dot driving it with Denton....

I wonder who'll rumble Dot first? Steve or Kate? Steve must be getting suspicious what with Dot pissing about with forensics and it was him who ultimatey got Steve suspended. Also, Kate must surely start to question Dot's somewhat odd behaviour.

Can't wait until next week!

[IanDG]

Surely Steve doesn't have use of the car as he's suspended? So that should rule him out? Unless he didn't hand in the keys so Dot could claim Steve could've taken it, picked up Denton and shot her. I guess with the switched plates, when they look for CCTV based on number plate recognition, they'll find nothing. So no footage of Dot driving it with Denton....

I wonder who'll rumble Dot first? Steve or Kate? Steve must be getting suspicious what with Dot pissing about with forensics and it was him who ultimatey got Steve suspended. Also, Kate must surely start to question Dot's somewhat odd behaviour.

Can't wait until next week!

He handed a bunch of keys over when he handed over his pass and warrant when he was suspended.

edit: well I thought he had.

[Ben T]

I think Dot was so desperate for the list not to come out not only because he's in the pay of the criminal gang to keep it under wraps but he's actually now at risk of being topped himself by them because it has. So I'm half expecting him to be in the run in more ways than one now.

[IanDG]

Batshit crazy!!!

[citoyen]

Bat shit crazy!!!

Total fucking Mexico. Love it.

[Riggers]

WOW WOW WOW!! Take THAT Dot, you bastard! Kept looking at my watch, thinking: "How much longer to go!?" when they were interviewing him.

[bobb]

I enjoyed it very much, but could've done without the silly running around with guns at the end!

So, there will be another series! I wonder if it will continue tidying up all the loose ends and people involved in this case, or move on with another story?