Episode five of Line of Duty season five took an unexpected turn after senior police officer Ted Hastings (played by Adrian Dunbar) was thrown in jail after being charged for police misconduct. He was left shaken after he was interrogated by AC-3 officer Patricia Carmichael (Anna Maxwell Martin). Hastings kept claiming he was innocent and warning her that he’d been framed by someone else.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Line of Duty season 5, episode 5
But who could have framed Hastings and what would their motive to be? Here are some potential suspects from the BBC series.
Gill Bigeloe
Gill (Polly Walker) has already expressed her desire for AC-12 to go after the OCG case was shut down this week.
During her conversation with PCC Rohan Sindwhani (Ace Bhatti), she said anti-corruption within the police force didn’t look good with her superior agreeing.
Gill stated: “It’s better anti-corruption doesn’t exist then it’s seen to be failing.”
She went on to say: “No one wants to lie but sometimes that means having a non-exclusive relationship with the truth.” Her comments make her seem highly dodgy.
Gill has also been trying to get Hastings to retire, so framing him would make sense from her point of view.
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Patricia Carmichael
Patricia could want to take down the AC-12 officer in a bid to prove her worth after Hastings she’d been fast-tracked through the ranks without putting in the years. Could his theory be correct?
She seemed pretty eager to take down Hastings, particularly after he was condescending towards her and demanded that she refer to him by the rank of “superintendent”.
However, Patricia did seem to do a thorough job during the interrogation as she took Hastings down piece by piece.
She didn’t seem to use any underhand tactics as she quizzed him. Hastings’ own mistakes – namely not using a witness or recording his interview with Lee Banks (Alastair Natkiel) at Blackthorn Prison – seemed to be his undoing.
However, perhaps Patricia is just acting on orders and has been instructed to frame him, so the case can be closed.
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H
Another suspect could be H – whoever he or she may be. H could well have framed Hastings so that they can remain carrying out their shady operations.
If this is the case, AC-12 would no longer be investigating the H conspiracy and thing could continue as usual.
Hastings is a convenient fall guy because of his position within anti-corruption as well as his knowledge.
As we saw from this evening’s episode, he managed with no trouble at all to impersonate H and win the trust of the OCG, so it’s easy to pin the blame on him.
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Kate Fleming and Steve Arnott
Could Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) have framed him? Perhaps they want power within AC-12.
Then again, Kate could be after Hastings’ job and by framing him, she could become the head of the unit.
Hastings is not being framed
Could Hastings be lying the whole time? Perhaps the truth is that he really is H but has finally got caught.
Ever since the season four finale, we’ve suspected Hastings as being H. He’s appeared more and more suspicious in season five what with his mounting debt, disposing of laptops, and brown envelopes stuffed with cash. It’s not a great position for him to be in.
Line of Duty season 5 continues on BBC One tonight at 9pm