Line of Duty: Jesus, Mary and Joseph, nobody would have guessed the identity of ‘the fourth man’

From left: Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar. Photograph: Aiden Monaghan/World Productions/BBC

Ted Hastings

From left: Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar. Photograph: Aiden Monaghan/World Productions/BBC

Ted Hastings

Pat Stacey

May 02 2021 10:00 PM

AS Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) would say, Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey, nobody would have guessed who “the fourth man” in Line of Duty would turn out to be.

Not the icy DCS Patricia Carmichael (Anna Maxwell Martin). Not the shady Chief Constable Osborne (Owen Teale). Not even retired bent copper Marcus Thurwell (James Nesbitt), who really was dead after all, strangled, along with his wife, by the far-reaching hands of the OCG.

The text messages supposedly sent from Spain were actually being rerouted from an IP address somewhere in the UK. “Spain is a decoy,” Ted thundered. “Thurwell is the stooge!”

No, the fourth man was – drum roll – DSU Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle). That’s right: lazy, incompetent meathead Buckells.

Before we got to the big reveal, however, there were mysteries to be solved and a minefield of misdirection to pick through on the finale of the BBC 1 ratings winner.

A strongbox full of explosively incriminating evidence was discovered buried under the floor of the OCG’s workshop. DNA tests on a gun and gloves proved Carl Banks murdered Gail Vella. Ryan Pilkington’s fingerprints were found all over the knives that killed Maneet Bindra and John Corbett.

There was also the pulse-pounding in-transit rescue of Jo Davidson (Kelly Macdonald), who’d been removed from prison by two corrupt guards using a forged document and was in a van targeted for an ambush by OCG balaclava men.

Knowing she was finally safe and headed for witness protection, Jo revealed to Ted, Steve and Kate (Vicky McClure) the identity of the man she’d always believed was her father: jailed bent copper Patrick Fairbank.

For a moment, it looked like Fairbank might be the fourth man, but he has Alzheimer’s and the interview hit a brick wall. Enter indefatigable AC-12 newbie Chloe Bishop (Shalom-Brune Franklin), who’d been digging deep into the Lawrence Christopher case file, turning up handwritten documents dating from 2003 which revealed the fourth man’s identity.

The common thread was the misspelled word “definately”. Creator Jed Mercurio and director Jennie Darnell squeezed the last drop of suspense out of the big unmasking, not showing us Buckells’s face until the moment he sat down opposite a glowering Ted.

Faced with an Everest of evidence, Buckells tried to “no comment” his way through it all, until Ted touched a nerve by calling him a “blundering fool” motivated by greed.

“Yeah, right, I’m a blundering fool,” said Buckells, taking the bait. “Only I’m the one that made mugs out of you lot.”

Sneering that nobody, least of all Ted’s imminent replacement Carmichael, believed in institutionalised corruption, Buckells said: “Everybody would be happier if this just went away, so I’ll take immunity and witness protection, thank you.”

All the murders, he said, were ordered by the OCGs. They and not the bent coppers were the ones running the show. “I just pass things on.”

Except, Gail Vella’s murder was ordered by corrupt senior police officers, him among them – a very different matter. The look on Buckells’ face as he realised he’d just bragged his way out of a witness protection and immunity deal was priceless.

Even better was the satisfaction with which Ted said: “Nobody makes mugs out of AC-12.” It was a real punch-the-air moment.

But this was a bittersweet, poignant finale. Hastings may have won the battle, but he appears to have lost the war. He’s out (although he plans to appeal his enforced retirement) and Carmichael is in.

AC-12 has been filleted. Osborne is still at the top and peddling the “few rotten apples” line.

Ted being Ted, he felt moved to tell Carmichael about the £50,000 he gave Steph Corbett (Amy De Bhrún). Surprisingly, Carmichael – who now looks less like a bent copper than simply a cold-fish careerist – didn’t appear keen on punishing him further.

So is this really the very last of Line of Duty? The parting shot of our three heroes descending in a glass lift certainly seemed valedictory.

It wasn’t the finale some might have expected, but it felt like the perfect one.