Line of Duty

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

... find this hard to watch and impossible to miss .... Gina McKee as a villainess .... finger chopping ten year olds .... deeeply cynical ... still undecided overall but high impact stuff

Refreshingly, Line of Duty centres on a cop who spends most of his time investigating crime instead of being investigated himself. DCI Tony Gates is a super black cop played by a super black actor, the brilliant Lennie James. Even as a victim of prejudice this character would be personable, but as the man in charge, running rings around the villains, he’s a boost to racial equality on the Obama scale. A pity then, that he is slightly bent after all.

Gates is the perfect husband and father. Unfortunately for him, and eventually for everybody, he also has an uncontrollable hankering for his upmarket mistress. She is a crook, and eventually he realises it, but he can’t stop wanting her. This desire on his part is made fearfully plausible by the casting of Gina McKee, who is one of those English beauties so fine-drawn that they seem to have been outlined in silverpoint. The fact that she also gives red-hot phone sex is merely the cream on the sundae.

Clive James in Tgraf

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... find this hard to watch and impossible to miss ....

The ending of last week's episode gave me nightmares on Tuesday night (somewhat spoiled by the photo on today's page in the Radio Times.
The grinding irony of the whole "corruption" issue, the twists in the plot, the timing of events, the characters - first-rate police drama.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just you and me, then, Calum? Perhaps they should've dubbed it into Swedish?

Excellent unflinching ending, I thought (more satisfactory than the conclusion of the recent Spiral series) - won't say any more in case people are waiting for the i-Player.

(PS: was that review you quoted by the very ill Clive James? Magnificent that he can still produce copy of this quality, if so! )

[DracoM]

Well, I must have been asleep. Yes, exciting and well-acted and scripted, BUT the last fifteen minutes eluded me a bit. Can anyone explain what Gates was up to at the end? I mean, why couldn't he do what Arnott said and just turn himself in? He had so much dirt on those heavies..........and to see that psychopathic kid playing the innocent card truly sickened me, and the Scottish boss crim apparently getting off with it ............I mean, what was the problem for Gates?

Help, please?

[Richard Tarleton]

Just you and me, then, Calum? Perhaps they should've dubbed it into Swedish?

Excellent unflinching ending, I thought (more satisfactory than the conclusion of the recent Spiral series) - won't say any more in case people are waiting for the i-Player.

(PS: was that review you quoted by the very ill Clive James? Magnificent that he can still produce copy of this quality, if so! )

Me too - was waiting to see how it ended. Powerful stuff.

[amateur51]

No idea what they're discussing?

No, me neither.

Here's a handy thing I've found called a link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01k9pn6/Line_of_Duty_Episode_1/

This episode is available until 8:59PM Tue, 31 Jul 2012

Ain't communication (and technology) wonderful

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

deeply cynical, well acted gripping and rather unlikeable all round i found ... no redeeming humour or humanity ... but a wonderful take on the image conscious boss in uniform of the main cops .... and very nasty with each other too fits quite well with Yates et al at Leveson ...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well, I must have been asleep. Yes, exciting and well-acted and scripted, BUT the last fifteen minutes eluded me a bit. Can anyone explain what Gates was up to at the end? I mean, why couldn't he do what Arnott said and just turn himself in? He had so much dirt on those heavies..........and to see that psychopathic kid playing the innocent card truly sickened me, and the Scottish boss crim apparently getting off with it ............I mean, what was the problem for Gates?

Help, please?

SPOILER ALERT: End of story mentioned here - look away now if you wish to avoid the "result"!



As I understood it, Gates would have lost his job (because of his involvement in covering up Jackie's murdering of her accountant and her own murder by Tommy's men) and his liberty. By being "killled in the line of duty", his reputation remained unsullied and his family got the Compensation money and his pension (as revealed in the script at the end. That way, his daughters could continue in the private school - something which he'd said was his top priority.

The "sickening" (I agree) aspect of the baddies "getting away with it" (and the background of "Dot") was what made the series so strong for me: no unrealistic "happy ending" for the audience (unlike the conclusion of Spiral 2).

[DracoM]

THanks

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Line of Duty

finishes this week and i did not want to let it pass without comment

very fine acting and writing in a plot of brilliant indeterminacy

a virtuoso interrogation scene in last epiisode and we will have to rethink Ms Hawes as rather a lot more than eye candy .... stunning portrayal of ... [we will know soon!]

[Richard Tarleton]

Superlatives all round for this - brilliant. Yes I'm expecting a big twist....Ms Hawes' acting against perceived type a revelation...and yes that 17 minute interrogation scene....

[johncorrigan]

Superlatives all round for this - brilliant. Yes I'm expecting a big twist....Ms Hawes' acting against perceived type a revelation...and yes that 17 minute interrogation scene....

Was it really 17 minutes? By in a flash!...totally riveting scene. Really no idea what will happen tomorrow!

[amateur51]

I'm guessing this is a television programme

[DracoM]

Totally agree - best thing since Broadchurch. Compulsive viewing.

[gurnemanz]

To me even better than Broadchurch - compelling viewing. The complexities of the plot seem to have even posed challenges for the writer. I read in the paper on Sunday that they spotted that a vital piece of information was missing and they had to go back and film another scene. http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra...s-jed-mercurio