What did you think of Line of Duty episode 3?

Yes, this was another corking episode of Line of Duty, the BBC2 cop show that keeps on giving.

Just when you thought Keeley Hawes’ Lindsay Denton was bang to rights as the villain of the piece, suddenly we don’t seem quite so sure.

Hawes put in another grueling acting stint as the unpopular copper who may – or may not – have set up her colleagues for an ambush which killed three colleagues and a protected witness. But her finely weighted performance also tugged at the heartstrings.

Even if she is guilty, the nasty roughing up she got in prison (for an enthusiastic piano player, having boiling water poured over her hands by those nasty, hatchet-faced guards is probably as bad as it gets) would still be pretty bad.

If she’s innocent – well. My God. This would be suffering on an operatic scale.

And it’s not as if the anti-corruption coppers (Vicky McClure’s randy Fleming, Martin Compston’s randier Arnott) are whiter than white. And they look like doing a pretty good job of sabotaging their own investigation through a series of personal misdemeanors, which were fleshed out (in every sense) this episode.

For me this series, like a lot of great TV drama, is especially good at creating expectations and then pulling the rug from under you.

But what did you think? Do you think Denton dunnit? Who is behind the ambush?

And why, in your view, is it so blimming good? Post your comments below…

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