Line of Duty: Ted Hastings tells Carmichael 'carry the fire'
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Line of Duty season six concluded on Sunday, May 2 after seven episodes of nail-biting moments, armchair detective work and plenty of bent coppers. This series has had astronomical numbers of people tuning in every week but how many people watched the Line of Duty season 6 finale? Express.co.uk has everything you need to know.
How many people watched the Line of Duty season 6 finale?
As expected, the Line of Duty season six has broken rating records.
The BBC, which is home to Line of Duty reported the final episode of the long-running police drama was watched by an average of 12.8 million people last night (Sunday, May 2).
This is four million more people compared with the season five finale in 2019.
The finale which aired between 9 and 10pm last night, reached 56.2 percent of the UK’s TV figures.
The BBC also reported the five-minute peak audience was 13.1 million, which occurred between 21:45 ad 21:50pm, around the time the identity of H was revealed.
Additionally, the finale was the most watched episode of any drama (excluding soaps) since records began in 2002.
Charlotte Moore, BBC’s chief content officer said: “Addictive event television, Line of Duty has kept the nation guessing for the last seven weeks, so it’s no surprise that last night’s jaw-dropping finale set a rating record.
“Jed Mercurio is a master of his craft, and I would like to congratulate him and the entire cast and crew for delivering such an incredible drama series.
“I’m looking forward to having a conversation with the team about where we go next and what the future of the series might be.”
In the finale, the identity of H, also known as the fourth man, was unveiled to be DCI Ian Buckell’s (played by Nigel Boyle).
Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) exclaimed in the interview room: “All the time we were here, thinking we were chasing some criminal mastermind, but no.
“Your corruption was mistaken for incompetence.”
Buckell’s revealed he was a middle man, passing messages along to the several Organized Crime Groups operating in the area.
As part of the police force, he was able to tip off the OCG’s and bent coppers in the ranks about ongoing investigations to allow their criminal enterprise to continue.
Through his encrypted messaging service, he would contact criminals but would route the messages through Marcus Thurwell’s Spanish IP address to avoid detection for such a long period of time.
Elsewhere, Jo Davidson (Kelly Macdonald) received Witness Protection and DI Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) paid a visit to occupational health.
DI Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) was offered a job on AC-12 and also attended a therapy session.
Superintendent Ted Hastings announced he was planning to fight his retirement and also came clean to his colleagues he tipped off the OCG there was a copper in the ranks, which may have led to John Corbett’s (Stephen Graham) death.
The reaction to the finale has been mixed amongst fans and critics, to say the least.
Anita Singh for the Telegraph gave the episode four out of five stars and Jan Moir for the Daily Mail called the finale “richly satisfying.”
However, Lucy Mangan for The Guardian gave the series three stars and Rachel Cooke for the New Statesman said there were “whimpers all-round” following the finale.
Many fans have been sharing a horse meme online to represent the finale, suggesting the first few seasons were amazing, with it all going wrong at the end.
One fan tweeted: “I’m so glad I’m not the only one disappointed… it comes to the last episode and I was like this is halfway through like where’s the drama, where’s the OMG moment… is that really H? Like really?? Um I was waiting for another twist and then… boom nothing.”
A second fan said: “I mean, Line of Duty has always been flawed in multiple aspects, but that was a dreadful and anticlimactic final episode.”
A third fan added: “I agree it’s a bit of an anti-climax, but very clever, relevant and topical.”
Whether Line of Duty will return for a seventh series remains unknown for now.
Express.co.uk will update this article when more information is available.
Line of Duty is streaming on the BBC iPlayer now
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