Sixth series of Line Of Duty on BBC 21st March

[Bently Sheds]

I always assumed Unforgotten is a bag of wank due to been on ITV, would that be correct?

Actually, it's not too bad. I've enjoyed each of the series I've watched. It's not moody & gritty like The Wire, or moody & procedure-heavy like LoD and it's not "pointless vehicle for ex-ITV Soap Star" which most ITV dramas often are. It's good for spotting forgotten 1970s/1980s actors - like the appearance of Kate Williams (wife of the racist in Love Thy Neighbour) in a recent episode.

New page recently discovered 1980s corpse.

[Phil_A]

Took me ages to realise from where I knew Perry Fitzpatrick who's playing Lomax. It just clicked that he was Flip, the comedy hard lad from This Is England.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjlT8-6U9Xs

"I'M 'ERE...FOR THE GIIIIIINGE!"

[BlodwynPig]

Getting geared up for tomorrow. Pre-show BBQ, beers from midday, a cheeky game of footie in the garden...let's have at it.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Really good beige humour.

[jobotic]

Look at Hastings and Arnott chatting about the horror of injustice, GBOL.

Doesn't work as every day we see that ACAB - the armed wing of the Tory party.

[BlodwynPig]

Some awful acting in that. So bad i cheered myself up imaging some more outre direction where the camera pans across Arnott who breaks the fourth wall mumbling "help me Geoffrey"

Anyone notice the BBC signposting that attacking Kuenssberg was morally wrong.

Also thanks mr continuity for informing us of the popularity of your show. Pride comes before a fall

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The murdered journalist isn't based on Kuenssberg at all. So far she's been depicted as someone devoted to bringing truth to corruption-riddled power, the absolute antithesis of the BBC's current Tory propaganda minister.

Also thanks mr continuity for informing us of the popularity of your show. Pride comes before a fall

Yeah, that was embarrassing. I've never heard a continuity announcer gloating about ratings before. Just introduce the programme, mate, you're not supposed to give it the old "we're so good at telly" spiel.

[gib]

it's more like when J*ll D*ndo found out what Cl*ff Richard* had been up to

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

it's more like when J*ll D*ndo found out what Cl*ff Richard* had been up to

Yes. That's what Mercurio is driving at here, it's not as if he's left much room for ambiguity.

[Crabwalk]

In the final scene did anyone else get the impression that Kelly Macdonald's character feels a bit trapped?

Fun episode though. Think this has been a return to form over the last series so far. It definitely benefits from not spending time with the OCGs and just focusing on the coppers.

Congrats also for the most awkward dialogue in history outside the scouse widower's house. The sort of exchange I always used to have with people I fancied.

[chveik]

ACAB/10

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Congrats also for the most awkward dialogue in history outside the scouse widower's house. The sort of exchange I always used to have with people I fancied.

Not quite as bad as the dialogue inside the house. The big TV/Champions League/sports channel exchange was bizarre. Though it'll probably become a major plot point in series 13.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Not quite as bad as the dialogue inside the house. The big TV/Champions League/sports channel exchange was bizarre. Though it'll probably become a major plot point in series 13.

I was baffled by that too.

[IsavedLatin]

Not quite as bad as the dialogue inside the house. The big TV/Champions League/sports channel exchange was bizarre. Though it'll probably become a major plot point in series 13.

I thought the massive telly/sports channels weird chat was to do with how supposedly poor the Scouse widow is these days (and with the sports channels, maybe a hint of "but you're a wimmins, what do you need them for!!1") -- hence if she has a big telly and the sports channels, then maybe a) she's got more money than she means to let on (somehow coming to her from ill-gotten channels?) and/or b) she has a man in her life that Steve doesn't know about.

[AsparagusTrevor]

So when Dot died did he leave his voice to DS Lomax?

[jobotic]

So when Dot died did he leave his voice to DS Lomax?

I thought that too!

Yes presumably the Sky Sports thing was to show she had more money than she's letting on. She should have done her house like Gennaro Savastano's in Gomorroah so we'd get the message better.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Ah right. The big telly exchange makes sense now. At the time I thought it was Mercurio self-consciously trying to write some random Normal Person chit-chat, but I should've guessed - everything has significance in Line of Duty.

[chveik]

you can find big tvs in a lot of working-class homes. shit writing

[jobotic]

you can find big tvs in a lot of working-class homes. shit writing

Yes and that makes them suspicious.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Bad writing, I agree, but I now understand the clumsy point of it.

[Phil_A]

you can find big tvs in a lot of working-class homes. shit writing

Not just the telly though, is it. She's a widowed single mum with two kids, and yet can still afford to keep that nice big house, which she tries to explain with an obvious lie about her late husband's life insurance

I thought the implication is that Hastings has been buying her off, hence her turning up at AC-12 asking to speak to him, which then tipped off Steve that something might be going on, leading to his "I was just in the area" visit.

[Mobius]

Really enjoyed that episode.

That voice in the podcast was definitely that lawyer from last series, aka Neil from The Office

Can't wait for Steve to twig who Ryan Pilkington is. 

[BlodwynPig]

The murdered journalist isn't based on Kuenssberg at all. So far she's been depicted as someone devoted to bringing truth to corruption-riddled power, the absolute antithesis of the BBC's current Tory propaganda minister.

Agreed, but the wider context was 'don't touch our journalists you leftist scum'.

[BlodwynPig]

In the final scene did anyone else get the impression that Kelly Macdonald's character feels a bit trapped?

Fun episode though. Think this has been a return to form over the last series so far. It definitely benefits from not spending time with the OCGs and just focusing on the coppers.

Congrats also for the most awkward dialogue in history outside the scouse widower's house. The sort of exchange I always used to have with people I fancied.

Two scenes of CGI hugging. Terrible.

Also, I hate Ryan the criminal-cum-copper. Give him some emotion and not just evil robot vibes. Farida's performance was a bit too CBeebies and Davison's meltdown at the end reminded me of Lost Highway but set in a sullen West Midlands car park.

[BlodwynPig]

Bad writing, I agree, but I now understand the clumsy point of it.

It was obvious from the stilted dialogue, the hesitancy. It's the bits between the bits that are often the clue.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Bad writing, I agree, but I now understand the clumsy point of it.

Same. Big tellies and sports channels aren't exclusively for the rich, but if we nitpick at that then there are much bigger plotholes that could ruin the show for us.

Another good episode last night. And while it's always been enjoyable nonsense, I just can't shake the how the ending to the last series confirmed that the writers haven't got a clue where it's going. Twists being explained by retrofitted plot points from series from years ago means the show's lost it's ability to shock or surprise me.

[studpuppet]

One thing I can't understand is why Ted's lines have become so bad, that Dunbar seems to be phoning it in these days. He put in a more three-dimensional performance for the Lee Mack Comic Relief skit, and that's saying something.

[EOLAN]

One thing I can't understand is why Ted's lines have become so bad, that Dunbar seems to be phoning it in these days. He put in a more three-dimensional performance for the Lee Mack Comic Relief skit, and that's saying something.

At the moment I am kind of interpreting it is a case of the character of Ted being worn down and phoning it in himself.

[Crabwalk]

^ Yeah, I'm feeling that. His status has been hugely diminished over the past series or two. He's going to come roaring back soon. Had some nice quips in the interview scene, I thought.

[JesusAndYourBush]

I saw it last year* and enjoyed it as a standalone without having seen the previous series, but I'm not enjoying this much and after seeing the first two episodes I'm quite bored by it.  Also I'm left confused because almost every copper seems bent, or is that what I'm supposed to think at this stage?

_{*Or was it longer than a year ago?  it seems much longer but it must just be a year, right?}