Line of Duty season 6
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Line Of Duty season 6 episode three: 11 burning questions we need answers to!

Murders, freezers and cuckooing... episode three had it all

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Line Of Duty episode three of season 6 turned the drama up to eleven tonight – and then some. With the plot thickening considerably, it’s time to take stock and try to figure out exactly what just happened.

So here are our burning questions – all 11 of them! Mother of God!

Jo Davdison Line Of Duty
Did Jo stop the interview in Line of Duty season 6 episode three on purpose? (Credit: BBC)

Did Jo stop the interview because she didn’t want Terry to reveal the truth?

After a (dodgy) witness statement once again implicated Terry Boyle in the murder of Gail Vella, Jo Davidson and the Operation Lighthouse team hauled him in for more questioning.

Terry insisted that he was not the man arguing with the CHIS in the pub, and looked as though he was going to reveal who the ‘other man’ was.

Read more: Line Of Duty fans make series six parallels with Jill Dando murder case

Just as he was about to do this – and under protest from Kate – Jo ended the interview.

Yes, poor Terry was becoming more and more agitated and distressed, but they were on the verge of a breakthrough.

Could Jo have ended the interview on purpose?

Jo Davidson Line Of Duty
Jo watching Kate (Credit: BBC)

Is Jo getting suspicious of Kate?

After the fatal car crash and attempt on Terry Boyle’s life, Kate knew something wasn’t right.

After she followed the car to the reservoir and found Ryan and Terry emerging from the water, she went to AC-12.

However, Jo was watching her all the time.

Not only had she admonished Kate when she had tried to get answers from Terry Boyle in the interview earlier in the episode, but she also wondered why Kate had been following Ryan and Terry’s car in the first place.

It was all looking so rosy for the pair… but has Kate now lost Jo’s trust?

Ryan Pilkington Line Of Duty
Ryan was up to his old tricks (Credit: BBC)

Why didn’t Steve and Kate take action on Ryan Pilkington?

Ryan was in cracking, bad-boy form tonight in Line of Duty season 6.

After he drowned PC Lisa Patel in the reservoir, Kate went to AC-12 to tell them about the incident’.

When she and Steve searched for Ryan on the database, they got a shock – both remembered him from his younger days.

So why did they not do anything about it?

There were numerous opportunities to nab him, not least when Kate interviewed him after the car crash and when Steve paid The Hill a visit.

Could it be that they’re biding their time and waiting for the right moment in Line of Duty season 6?

Ted Hastings has a new catchphrase in Line Of Duty
Are Ted and Kate still friends? (Credit: BBC)

What is going on with Ted and Kate?

Kate made a return to AC-12 tonight to report the car crash and the attempt on Terry Boyle’s life.

Up until that point, Chief Superintendent Ted Hastings had always stayed clear of Kate’s involvement, obviously mindful of something that happened between the pair between series five and this one.

However, there was a flicker of warmth between the two when Kate left the AC-12 office.

So what is going on? Are they still mates, and what really happened between them?

Gail Vella Line Of Duty
Gail was working on something big (Credit: BBC)

Did Gail Vella’s work have parallels with the Cliff Richard investigation and Operation Yewtree?

Last week, fans drew parallels between the murder of fictional character Gail Vella and the real-life murder of BBC journalist of Jill Dando.

This week, AC-12 reviewed more found footage of Gail’s work.

In it, Gail interviewed PCC Rohan Sindwhani, who once again denied institutional corruption in the police force.

His denials came in the face of questions from Gail about the suppression of police investigations into child exploitation and abuse.

Instead of investigating bent coppers, she said, his officers chose to focus on “celebrities and VIPs”, and colluded with the BBC to allow a news helicopter to film the search of an “elderly pop star’s house”.

Could these claims have more parallels with more real-life cases?

After all, Sir Cliff Richard won substantial damages from the BBC after they filmed a police raid on his property in 2014.

Ted Hastings Line Of Duty
Steve and Ted discussing Terry Boyle’s case (Credit: BBC)

Is Ted obsessed with H?

Ted was given a dusting down by Sindwhani and DCC Andrea Wise.

While Sindwhani seemed only to care about PR and press reaction to AC-12’s investigation of Operation Lighthouse, DCC Wise had a quiet word with Ted, saying that he had become obsessed with finding H.

This tallies with what Steve said in last week’s episode about the H case.

However, he was reminded by Wise that he was skating on thin ice as she told him, “This is isn’t about old battles.”

Ted responded with a zinger: “The name’s Hastings, ma’am, I’m the epitome of an old battle.”

Chloe Line Of Duty
Chloe and Steve found Terry’s freezer (Credit: BBC)

Is cuckooing really a thing?

Chloe found the freezer from Terry Boyle’s flat in a scrapyard, and subsequent forensics tests found that traces of Jackie Laverty’s DNA were inside the freezer.

Jackie, who was murdered in series one, had been hacked up and placed in the freezer by Ryan and his gang, unbeknown to Terry.

Steve and Chloe explained to Ted that this looked like a case of ‘cuckooing’.

Cuckooing takes its name from cuckoos who take over the nests of other birds.

And, in this case, it means criminals taking over someone’s home so they can do naughty things.

Like store dead bodies in freezers.

Steve Arnott Line Of Duty
Steve is under the cosh because of his drug use (Credit: BBC)

What does Ted know about Steve’s prescription painkiller habit?

There was a lot going on with Steve tonight.

His dependency on prescription painkillers was almost rumbled when Steph told Ted about his pill-popping.

However, Ted gave him the nod when AC-9 were circulating the building and conducting drug tests – which he’d apparently ordered.

He didn’t save him from the second round though. Will he help if the proverbial hits the fan?

Did Steve sleep with Steph just to find the money?

And that wasn’t all that happened with Steve in tonight’s episode.

His fascination with Steph and Ted’s relationship continued, and he visited John Corbett’s widow once again.

And again.

Steve, who’s got a bit of a reputation when it comes to the ladies, ended up spending the night with Steph.

And while there seemed genuine warmth between the two, as soon as she left for work he slipped on his latex gloves and searched her house.

He found the cash Ted had given her, but what’s he going to do about it next, and did he use Steph to find the money?

Line Of Duty
The return of a familiar face (Credit: BBC)

Where have you seen the prison warden before?

You can always rely on Line Of Duty for a callback or four.

This week it was a prison warden from series two.

Viewers saw Farida Jatri assaulted in custody by an Offender Management Officer.

And hardcore LOD fans will have recognised her – she was the same OMO (Alison Merchant) who brutally assaulted Lindsay Denton in series two.

With OCG connections, who’s to say that Merchant isn’t putting the squeeze on Farida, too?

Kate and Joanne Line Of Duty series six?
What’s next for Jo Davidson? (Credit: BBC One)

Is Jo now in the clear?

At the end of the episode, fans saw Jo contact the OCG via the same messenger service we saw in series five.

She told them that everything was under control.

Jo had successfully stitched up her ex, Farida, and her boss Ian Buckells.

She had also tried desperately to frame Terry Boyle, too.

Read more: Ryan Pilkington in Line Of Duty: Young cop is a wrong un and has a long history in the show

So it look as though her path is clear… at the moment.

But with Kate increasingly suspicious of her actions, and AC-12 extending its forensic investigation of Farida’s house (as well as its intent to interview Terry Boyle), she’s got her work cut out.

ALL Line of Duty in SIX MINUTES - BBC

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor

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