Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio has spoken out to clear up some of the mysteries in the series five finale, with some shocking admissions.
Sunday night’s blockbuster finale unmasked legal counsel Gill Biggeloe as setting up AC-12 boss Ted Hastings as mysterious organised crime boss ‘H’, before a closer examination of DI Matthew Cottan’s dying declaration revealed ‘H’ was actually a clue rather than a person.
With viewers left pondering many loose ends that were left as a result, the showrunner has attempted to answer some of their questions.
Shockingly, Jed admitted that Hastings DID cause the death of undercover operative John Corbett, passing information on to imprisoned organised crime group member Lee Banks.
However, it seems his intentions for doing so were not as bad as you might think.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Jed explained: “Without actually seeing those words come out of his mouth, I think it’s pretty clear that that’s what he did do.”
Referring to what Hastings said in his interrogation by DCS Carmichael, he continued: “When he was asked how he thought Corbett would respond to having his cover blown, Hastings said that he would ‘consider his position and take refuge within the nearest police station’ – so that suggests that Hastings was following some kind of a plan, which was not to kill Corbett, but to bring him in so he could then assist the police enquiry.”
Jed also put to bed speculation Hastings was actually Corbett’s father, after a connection between Hastings and Corbett’s birth mother Anne-Marie McGillis was revealed.
He pointed out that looking at the age of the various characters indicted that was not “physically possible, because it would mean that Ted had fathered John before he’d even met Anne-Marie”.
He added that Hastings’ emotional reaction to the revelation Corbett was Anne-Marie’s son proved that “did have an intimate relationship”.
Jed also confirmed that Hastings’ had kept hold of an extra £50,000 he was given by the bent former officer Mark Moffatt, choosing to give it to Corbett’s wife “as a form of atonement”.
While ‘H’ was revealed not to be a specific person, but a clue relating to four corrupt police workers, with one still at large, viewers have still been left wondering if Hastings could still be bent.
A few clues still point at this, especially the reason as to why he disposed of his laptop, and if his misspelling of ‘definitely’ meant he was communicating with the OCG.
“Because we haven’t witnessed that, it’s something where we’re relying on the audience to make up their own mind on,” Jed said.
However, he insisted shots appearing to show him attempting to call OCG member Lisa McQueen were put in as a red herring.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Line Of Duty also confirmed to HuffPost UK that suspicions about Hastings had been left deliberately vague ahead of the sixth series.
Another potential plot for the next series was also opened up when OCG member Ryan Pilkington was seen applying for a job with the police, with viewers suggesting he could become the next Caddy.
Line Of Duty’s fifth series is available to watch again on BBC iPlayer, with the previous four series also on Netflix.