TV Review: Line of Duty Series 4

So Series 4 of Jed Mercurio's Line of Duty winds up to its insanely tense climax and once again it satisfies the requirements of event TV - giving some answers but withholding others, in the full anticipation of further seasons in which to explore the overarching stories that still remain. This did also mean that it didn't quite push all of my buttons the way I would have liked for it to be as spectacular as the end to Series 3.

With the Caddy arc being resolved so thoroughly then, I very much enjoyed the fresh slate of AC12's investigation of an entirely new case here (review of Episode 1 here). And Thandie Newton's superbly slippery DCI Roz Huntley was an excellent antagonist, the potential framing of a suspect being only the beginning of the twistiest of tales that threatened to swallow up any and everyone around her, good or bad, corrupt or misogynist.

I'm still a little in two minds though as to the way in which the story folded right back to Series 1 with its late discovery of a network of corruption, pulling strands from that original case and leaving them to be resolved at an unspecified later date. Personally I don't think we needed it, such is the fun of the team's investigations and spellbinding interrogations - Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure and Martin Compston on fine form, ably assisted - to a point - by Maya Sondhi's Maneet. Oh Maneet...

And I enjoyed the tip into melodramatic silliness - the amputated hand that was barely mentioned again, the improbable survival from a great fall, the fact that they still think they can put Fleming undercover anywhere (neatly referenced in-episode). Line of Duty remains thoroughly gripping television and even if I like to complain a little, it shows no signs of outstaying its welcome.