Line of Duty fans reckon Marcus Thurwell could still be alive despite apparent death

Before Nesbitt could even properly appear on the show, though, he was killed off, with his body found during a police raid on his Spanish property at the end of last night's penultimate episode.

But, as is so often the case on Jed Mercurio's hit drama, all may not be as it seems, and a fan theory that posits that Thurwell actually staged his own death and is still very much alive is already gaining traction.

The grainy footage we saw of his supposed dead body certainly didn't make it clear that it was Thurwell, and we therefore only have the word of the Spanish police to go off at this stage.

This has caused fans to take to social media to voice their suspicion, especially given how quickly the police managed to identify his body.

“Camera too grainy, sound s**t and how could they identify señor and señora Thurwell so quickly and the bodies decomposing so quick. Nahhhhh!," one wrote on Twitter.

Another viewer added, "There is no way Marcus Thurwell is dead. You don’t bring in James Nesbitt to not have him appear once on screen. My hunch is that he was who Davidson believed was her father. She daren’t look at his photo during her interrogation."

And some fans have even gone so far as to suggest that Thurwell has now infiltrated the Spanish police – based on the suspicious resemblance between Nesbitt and the officer who informed AC-12 of his death.

One Twitter user wrote “That is Jimmy Nesbitt’s eyes. He is not dead, he is the Spanish police guy,” and another added, “Erm. Why does this chap look just like Marcus Thurwell??!

The face of the officer in question was largely hidden by a face covering, with only his eyes visible, so it's hard to make a definitive judgment – but we're not ruling out an appearance from James Nesbitt next week...

In the meantime, you can watch the Line of Duty finale trailer here right now.

Line of Duty concludes on Sunday 2nd May 2021 at 9pm on BBC One. Take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage, or check out our TV Guide to see what’s on TV this week.