Line of Duty: Anyone got any spare oxygen?

Spoilers!

I decided I wasn’t going to Tweet this live during this, because I knew I’d have to be fully alert and receptive during those interviews - and I’m not even the one with anything at stake. I failed miserably of course: how could I not tweet about such a breathtaking end to an incredible series?

In a world dominated by media created for short attention spans, Jed Mercurio is a wordsmith of such awesomeness that we all remained absolutely gripped watching people talk in a glass box for the best part of 90 minutes.

Firsty, Steve Arnott was pinned to the wall by a slippery, oily and far too smug Cottan - but with Kate Fleming frowning occasionally and making copious notes, we hoped she was following along the path that would bring her to the conclusion we all knew to be true: Dot is The Caddy.

And sure enough, as many of us had predicted, it was Kate who finally caught Cottan out - as well as the po-faced, high’n’mighty Gill Bigelow (I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who cheered when Hastings told her where to go) - jumping on his reticence to confirm his whereabouts when Lindsey was murdered. Had she been in his flat or hadn’t she? We still don’t know. It was Dot’s turn for the jitters, with visions of the dead Denton not helping either.

And then that incredible text: Urgent Exit Required. Surely destined to be the most quoted line ever. The corruption ran so deep yet we didn’t see this coming. One of the armed officers outside the box, on the payroll - his colleague, sadly, paying the premium. The office, sprayed with bullets and glass shards as Dot burst through the shot windows and escaped the building with accomplice in tow. Viewers be like:

Tension released, it was chase time. And boy, did Kate chase. Leaping aboard a lorry and giving him permission to speed, taking out the rogue armed officer, confronting Dot with an emotional plea before his rescuer arrived - we saw glimpses of Dot wavering when it came to Kate, foreshadowing what’s to come. They get away but Kate’s having none of it and was off and running again, us along with her, until finally she got a chance for the money shot: long distance, straight into the vehicle, sending it careering over.

Armed Response finally converged but not before we’ve some redemption for Cottan. After everything he’d said and done, he threw himself in front of his getaway driver’s shower of bullets to save Kate; she rapidly dispatched the shooter, he gave a Dying Declaration for crucial evidence against Fairbanks.

Gripping. Awesome. Brilliant. Riveting. Breathtaking.Butt clenching. Appointment to view telly. Amazing. Thrilling. Superb. Wow. Tense. Moving. Constant goosebumps. Nailbiting. Fantastic. Top Class: Twitter couldn’t contain itself.

And great news: Series 4 begins filming in August! It could be a completely new case, or, there are still plenty of lines of enquiry to pursue from this case. No pressure, Jed!

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