Yahoo News Does this major new Line of Duty cast announcement hint at Ted Hastings' exit?
Note: contains spoilers for episode 4 of Line of Duty series five from the outset.
The latest Line of Duty delivered one of the BBC hit's biggest ever jaw-droppers, brutally executing Stephen Graham's conflicted undercover officer John Corbett with two episodes of the series left to go.
It's been a few days now and, we'll be honest, we're still reeling.
Related: Line of Duty season 5, episode 4: 10 HUGE questions after the most shocking episode yet
But with a third of this latest series still to come, including a feature-length finale, is writer/creator Jed Mercurio holding back an even bigger surprise? Could there be an even more stunning exit on the cards? They've "definately" been hinting as much.
Then yesterday, the announcement came that BAFTA-winning Anna Maxwell Martin would be joining Line of Dutyfor the last two episodes as Detective Chief Superintendent Patricia Carmichael.
A senior anti-corruption detective brought in from outside of AC-12, Carmichael is "a woman on a mission", according to Martin, while Mercurio has described the character as "pivotal" to what comes next.
On the surface, holding back the announcement of Martin's casting and releasing it this week, might just seem like a canny bit of publicity on the part of the BBC – it gives this series of Line of Duty one last jolt (though it hardly needs it) and helps to soften the blow of Stephen Graham's exit with the news that another top acting talent is coming on board.
But is there more to it than that?
The idea that a high-ranking police officer has been pulling the strings for organised crime might have been lurking in the background of Line of Dutyfrom the very beginning, but this latest series has absolutely upped the ante when it comes to the mystery of 'Who is H?' – in particular, fueling suspicions that AC-12's own gaffer, Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), could be the biggest bent copper of all.
It feels as though we're drawing close to a resolution – for one thing, it'd feel like something of a cheat not to reveal H's identity after this series has laid the whole thing on so thick, but for another, DS Arnott actor Martin Compston has promised that there will be "a pay-off" to the H mystery *this series*.
Crucially, though, this isn't the end of the story – a sixth series of Line of Duty has already been greenlit by the BBC, and Mercurio has hinted at the possibility of more episodes beyond that.
So if H is unmasked this series, and Ted really is our man, then that means we'd be seeing a version of AC-12 without Hastings at the helm.
All that taken into account, the arrival of Martin's character at this late juncture feels highly suspicious. Why bring in an established name to play a major new character – an anti-corruption officer from outside of AC-12's ranks, no less – unless it's a stealth audition to have her take over as the new boss?
Is it too much of a stretch to imagine this current series ending with Ted in handcuffs, having been revealed as H or as being caught up in some other dodgy business, with Patricia Carmichael stepping up to take charge of his old outfit?
It all seems to fit. Which is the only reason why we're not 100% certain we're right. After all, Line of Duty has always enjoyed playing with our expectations and defying dramatic convention. Just ask John Corbett. Or Danny Mays' Danny Waldron. Or Jessica Raine's Georgia Trotman.
If Carmichael's introduction is in fact a ruse – another 'Ted herring' to make us question Hastings' motivations – then it wouldn't even be the first time that Mercurio has pulled this sort of trick.
Last series, the introduction of a new, young male officer at AC-12 – Royce Pierreson's DC Jamie Desford – in the same episode that ended with Steve Arnott being brutally assaulted helped sell the possibility that the show might really have just killed off one of its leads. After all, his replacement appeared to already be in place.
In the end, Steve was fine and Jamie turned out to be a crony working for corrupt ACC Hilton (Paul Higgins).
Possibly, we're looking at something similar here – everything about Martin's character so clearly screams that she's Hastings' replacement that Line of Duty will probably veer in a totally different direction.
For all we know, she's H. Well, her or Gill Biggeloe.
Line of Duty continues this Sunday (April 28) at 9pm on BBC One.
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