Cloud Hosting

Well, blow me down, its James Nesbitt

Heres where it starts to get really complicated. The SIO (Senior Investigating Officer) who made such a cack-handed job of the Christopher investigation was none of other than DCI Marcus Thurwell. If you recognise that name, give yourself a huge gold star and a promotion to Acting DI he was last referenced in series three, in conjunction with the Sands View Boys Home scandal. Thurwell was the SIO into the suicide of the Sands View whistleblower, Oliver Stephens-Lloyd.

He had taken early retirement and was last spotted swanning about in deck shoes on a jetty in Spain, where he bears an uncanny resemblance to James Nesbitt (the actor who only a few weeks back was complaining he had never been cast in Line of Duty fellas, hes played us). So, Vella was about to dig out the ugly truth about the death of Lawrence Christopher did Lee and Carl Banks tip off Thurwell? Is Thurwell H? Does H stand for Him from Cold Feet?

Not complicated enough for you? Okay. Also on Thurwells team for the Christopher investigation were none other than DCI Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle), bent copper and OCG fall guy, and Chief Constable Philip Osborne (Owen Teale), the police chief who is currently putting the kibosh on all anti-corruption investigations and closing AC-12. Blimey, this goes deep.

But why was the Christopher killing covered up in the first place? Surely throwing a few racist custody officers and/or gang of neer-do-wells under the bus would have been easier? Well One of the racist thugs who attacked Christopher was Darren Hunter, son of OCG head honcho Tommy Hunter, who it seems must have put pressure on Thurwell (and possibly Buckells and Osborne) to ensure his boy walked free.

That boy, of course, we now know is related to DCI Joanne Davidson, the SIO on Operation Lighthouse, the investigation into the murder of Gail Vella, who it seems was killed for digging into the death of Lawrence Christopher Making sense yet?

Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) would be proud of Arnott, who has doggedly followed his hunch about a bent copper. Unfortunately for Hastings, that bent copper is him. Arnott received the forensics report on the cash he found in Steph Corbetts attic and, lo and behold, it was the same cash given to Hastings in that dodgy deal from series five. But why would Hastings give 50,000 to John Corbetts widow?

Arnott discovered the truth (or, as this is Line of Duty, the temporary truth) in his prison chat with Lee Banks, who informed Arnott it was Hastings who told him that Corbett was an undercover police officer. So: whether deliberately or not, Hastings got Corbett killed, and the 50,000 is guilt money.

Read more here:
Line of Duty, season 6 episode 5 recap: Davidson is in deep but who fired those cliffhanger shots? - The Telegraph