Hi, I'm new to this forum and I haven't read the previous umpteen hundred posts, so pardon me if this is a repeat. I just watched the last episode of Series 2 - thank you iPlayer - and I have some questions about the ambush. Any assistance would be welcome.
1. Akers tells Denton that there is to be a 'nice clean handover, no guns'. What possible scenario could they think up (to be reported to their superiors) that would cover this? Would they plan to say that they were held up with guns and the witness was abducted?
2. What did Akers actually expect to happen that night? Did Denton expect the same?
3. What was the planned route - up Crown Street or the left turn onto Long Lane?
4. Why did Denton turn left onto Long Lane?
5. Akers expressed surprise when Denton turns left. Is this genuine, or is she faking surprise it for the sake of the witness and the other cops?
6. The killers approached Denton from the west, driving east on Long Lane. This implies that they expected her to approach along Long Lane; (otherwise they would have missed her if she had continued up Crown Street; they would have been following her north.) So the agreed rendezvous apparently was Long Lane, yes?
7. But if there was an agreed rendezvous on Long Lane, what was the tracker for? It wasn't needed. And in that case, after the ambush, why did Denton suss that there must be a tracker, and look for it?
8. Akers and the other two cops (who must have been in on it) did not expect to be killed. I suppose they were killed as potential witnesses. But then why was Denton spared?
Bent_Copper
1 -- (without rewatching to check) it is more likely Akers was telling Denton that the police should carry no guns. If so, the villains would just need to point theirs in order to effect a clean handover.
8 -- taking the above interpretation of 1, the other police officers do not need to have been in on the deal. Denton has ensured they are unarmed, so there is not much they can do to resist.
3,4,6 -- see nomad2king's answer.
5 -- Akers is surprised because Denton has left the agreed route. (We still do not need the other coppers to have been in on the deal, as they might have understood Akers to mean that Denton had left the most direct route to the station.)
7 -- I'm not sure writer Jed Mercurio had properly thought this through, as it would make more sense for the villains to be tracking Akers' car, and for Denton to have left the tracker where it was.
Hi, I'm new to this forum and I haven't read the previous umpteen hundred posts, so pardon me if this is a repeat. I just watched the last episode of Series 2 - thank you iPlayer - and I have some questions about the ambush. Any assistance would be welcome.
1. Akers tells Denton that there is to be a 'nice clean handover, no guns'. What possible scenario could they think up (to be reported to their superiors) that would cover this? Would they plan to say that they were held up with guns and the witness was abducted?
2. What did Akers actually expect to happen that night? Did Denton expect the same?
3. What was the planned route - up Crown Street or the left turn onto Long Lane?
4. Why did Denton turn left onto Long Lane?
5. Akers expressed surprise when Denton turns left. Is this genuine, or is she faking surprise it for the sake of the witness and the other cops?
6. The killers approached Denton from the west, driving east on Long Lane. This implies that they expected her to approach along Long Lane; (otherwise they would have missed her if she had continued up Crown Street; they would have been following her north.) So the agreed rendezvous apparently was Long Lane, yes?
7. But if there was an agreed rendezvous on Long Lane, what was the tracker for? It wasn't needed. And in that case, after the ambush, why did Denton suss that there must be a tracker, and look for it?
8. Akers and the other two cops (who must have been in on it) did not expect to be killed. I suppose they were killed as potential witnesses. But then why was Denton spared?
My interpretation to these points are
1) & 2) No guns were intended according to Akers in the original plan. The ambushers were going to hold up the convoy at gun point and the cops would be forced to handover their witness..The story would be that the police would have had no choice.as they weren't armed
3) ,4) & 5) The ambush was supposed to take place in Crown Ave. Denton changed her mind about the ambush at the last moment and turned left into Long Lane.
6) & 7) The killers weren't following. They were waiting in Crown Ave. When they realised that the convoy had gone off route they sped northwards up Crown Ave and into Long Lane from the other end to meet the convoy head on. The tracker was mainly used to inform the killers that Denton was leading the convoy and the car behind was to be the target. Denton clearly knew in advance that there was a tracker on her car hence her haste to remove it. Considering how quickly she found it she probably had put it on there herself. Where she went wrong was to try and place it on the other car instead of disposing of it secretly.
8). I don't think the 2 cops were in on it.. On the night of the ambush when Denton meets Akers and they suggest a route it was already decided. Discussion of the route was a ruse and just for the benefit of the cops who were in earshot. The cops were going to be witnesses to the ambush and would allay any suspicions that it might have been a set-up from the inside.
1) & 2) No guns were intended according to Akers in the original plan. The ambushers were going to hold up the convoy at gun point and the cops would be forced to handover their witness..The story would be that the police would have had no choice.as they weren't armed
3) ,4) & 5) The ambush was supposed to take place in Crown Ave. Denton changed her mind about the ambush at the last moment and turned left into Long Lane.
6) & 7) The killers weren't following. They were waiting in Crown Ave. When they realised that the convoy had gone off route they sped northwards up Crown Ave and into Long Lane from the other end to meet the convoy head on. The tracker was mainly used to inform the killers that Denton was leading the convoy and the car behind was to be the target. Denton clearly knew in advance that there was a tracker on her car hence her haste to remove it. Considering how quickly she found it she probably had put it on there herself. Where she went wrong was to try and place it on the other car instead of disposing of it secretly.
8). I don't think the 2 cops were in on it.. On the night of the ambush when Denton meets Akers and they suggest a route it was already decided. Discussion of the route was a ruse and just for the benefit of the cops who were in earshot. The cops were going to be witnesses to the ambush and would allay any suspicions that it might have been a set-up from the inside.
Points 7&8 were bits I was unclear about when I was watching.
i) Denton insisted that they take her car rather than a squad one - was that because she knew it had a tracker on or make easier to insist on her being the driver?
ii) But her reaction after the ambush made me think she didn't know about the tracker in advance - why bother changing route otherwise if she knows that the ambushers will still know where she is going? She made a late change of route herself after having second thoughts but when the ambush still took place realised there must have been a tracker placed on her car. So she removed it and placed it on Akers to shift focus onto her (and she's dead) - Denton was only supposed to be there quite innocently by a quirk of the rota / shift system?
On balance, leaving the tracker on Denton's car would have made it look like she was probably involved somehow, if not necessarily the mastermind - which was more or less the case.
Have watched series 2 in two sittings of three episodes due to travels in Feb, watching the last three yesterday and yes, I have read many of the threads so the following remain unanswered to me. Or at least I think so.
1. Why was Fleming homeless? I don’t seem to remember that she was married in the first series.
2. How did Carly get to her new location off her own steam or with financial help from another (Denton etc).
3. The first ep clearly showed Denton telling Akers the route along the back road and her agreeing, the last ep suggested a change of heart/plan, but it had already been suggested by her!
4. When Dot finally caught up with Morton in the Police car park; Morton had his walking stick again, how? Dot took it onto the golf course, or does Morton have a fold up pocket walking stick!
5. Denton saw Prasad whilst Tommy assaulted Carley, so she should have recognised him in the woods (or maybe not).
6. Why did Denton try smother Prasad after his confession whilst trapped and why were AC-12 eager to keep news of his survival from her.
Like others I enjoyed the series but felt the last episode was a little rushed. Pity.
3. The writer claims that Denton got cold feet on her journey and changed her mind on the ambush and direction. He said that it could have been un clear to viewers.
Have watched series 2 in two sittings of three episodes due to travels in Feb, watching the last three yesterday and yes, I have read many of the threads so the following remain unanswered to me. Or at least I think so.
1. Why was Fleming homeless? I don’t seem to remember that she was married in the first series.
2. How did Carly get to her new location off her own steam or with financial help from another (Denton etc).
3. The first ep clearly showed Denton telling Akers the route along the back road and her agreeing, the last ep suggested a change of heart/plan, but it had already been suggested by her!
4. When Dot finally caught up with Morton in the Police car park; Morton had his walking stick again, how? Dot took it onto the golf course, or does Morton have a fold up pocket walking stick!
5. Denton saw Prasad whilst Tommy assaulted Carley, so she should have recognised him in the woods (or maybe not).
6. Why did Denton try smother Prasad after his confession whilst trapped and why were AC-12 eager to keep news of his survival from her.
Like others I enjoyed the series but felt the last episode was a little rushed. Pity.
1. Fleming was married in the first series but you only find out just before the end credits go up , she goes home to be greeted by husband and son, she was homeless because it looks like hubby found out about her affair with akers and kicked her out
Like others I enjoyed the series but felt the last episode was a little rushed. Pity.
1 Her husband suspected her of an affair (though not who with)
2 We don't know though
3 answered by johnnymc
4 I guess he had a spare
5 Perhaps she did, but was careful not to reveal it.
6 She was worried her actions might back fire on her if he survived? AC12 were keeping their options open. If Denton thought he was dead, she might let something slip which could be used against her if Prasad corroborated it.
Have watched series 2 in two sittings of three episodes due to travels in Feb, watching the last three yesterday and yes, I have read many of the threads so the following remain unanswered to me. Or at least I think so.
1. Why was Fleming homeless? I don’t seem to remember that she was married in the first series.
2. How did Carly get to her new location off her own steam or with financial help from another (Denton etc).
3. The first ep clearly showed Denton telling Akers the route along the back road and her agreeing, the last ep suggested a change of heart/plan, but it had already been suggested by her!
4. When Dot finally caught up with Morton in the Police car park; Morton had his walking stick again, how? Dot took it onto the golf course, or does Morton have a fold up pocket walking stick!
5. Denton saw Prasad whilst Tommy assaulted Carley, so she should have recognised him in the woods (or maybe not).
6. Why did Denton try smother Prasad after his confession whilst trapped and why were AC-12 eager to keep news of his survival from her.
Like others I enjoyed the series but felt the last episode was a little rushed. Pity.
Thanks all with answers given. Completely forgot about Flemings family. My mistake, re spare walking stick, didn't realize it was the next day, thought it was a couple of hours later.
As D.I. Drake … Keeley Hawes couldn’t arrest an audience if she came on naked with a ‘This Way Up’ sticker on her bottom."
AA Gill review of Keeley Hawes
You have to laugh that a smarmy London food critic can pontificate about the work of a fabulous actress. Never mind - AA Gill is an insufferable pompous bore - Keeley Hawes has proved herself to be a wonderful actress, Mr Gill keep yapping on about various crap London restaurants, visit Scotland once a year and pretend you're a Scot.& carry on getting all your PRs to do your work for you. One day you might actually find a decent restaurant that's not in London.
Just been confirmed that there will be TWO new series of Line of Duty
Creator and writer, Jed Mercurio, says: “We’re profoundly grateful to the fans who not only watched Line Of Duty but also made it such a talking point, and to BBC Two for this rare and immensely flattering opportunity. For series three and four, I can promise two explosive new cases for AC-12, new guest stars as police officers investigated for corruption, further twists and turns from the loose ends of series two, and maybe even some surprise reappearances...”
Just been confirmed that there will be TWO new series of Line of Duty
We've been away so looked forward to watching the final couple of episodes on recorder....but what a lame ending!!!
I don't mind that justice is not done so if Denton was the only one to get a harsh time that's a good story line for a series about police corruption but it is time writers treated viewers with some respect and gave us an ending that made sense and we didn't have to speculate about. It is typical writer arrogance to have so many lose ends that the mere mortals who watch it could not possibly understand.
Don't writers understand that it is much better to leave us with a "wow, that was a good twist.." than with an "uh....? What was that all about?". It's pretty lame and lazy writing in my opinion - shame as it was very well acted and started with promise.
If there are 2 more series I hope they get a better writer!!
I recently decided to re-watch Series One on DVD and had forgotten how many plot links there were with Series Two. Therefore, especially in view of the time-gap between the original broadcasts, I really feel the BBC missed a trick here and should have repeated Series One just prior to the first screening of Series Two.
We've been away so looked forward to watching the final couple of episodes on recorder....but what a lame ending!!!
I don't mind that justice is not done so if Denton was the only one to get a harsh time that's a good story line for a series about police corruption but it is time writers treated viewers with some respect and gave us an ending that made sense and we didn't have to speculate about. It is typical writer arrogance to have so many lose ends that the mere mortals who watch it could not possibly understand.
Don't writers understand that it is much better to leave us with a "wow, that was a good twist.." than with an "uh....? What was that all about?". It's pretty lame and lazy writing in my opinion - shame as it was very well acted and started with promise.
If there are 2 more series I hope they get a better writer!!
Well, I'm sorry you felt that way about the conclusion but it's in the nature of Mercurio's work that there are shades of grey and ambiguities. Frankly I'm happy to forego neat Scooby Doo-style plot resolutions in favour of the gripping story, fantastic acting and masterly direction. Mercurio is unquestionably a good writer and I look forward to more of his work.
We've been away so looked forward to watching the final couple of episodes on recorder....but what a lame ending!!!
I don't mind that justice is not done so if Denton was the only one to get a harsh time that's a good story line for a series about police corruption but it is time writers treated viewers with some respect and gave us an ending that made sense and we didn't have to speculate about. It is typical writer arrogance to have so many lose ends that the mere mortals who watch it could not possibly understand.
What loose ends? It was pretty well all explained. The only unexplained matter is whose body was found in the warehouse instead of that of the missing girl Carly, and why was she killed? But it didn't really matter as we knew from a brief shot that Carly was alive and well after all..
Comments
1 -- (without rewatching to check) it is more likely Akers was telling Denton that the police should carry no guns. If so, the villains would just need to point theirs in order to effect a clean handover.
8 -- taking the above interpretation of 1, the other police officers do not need to have been in on the deal. Denton has ensured they are unarmed, so there is not much they can do to resist.
3,4,6 -- see nomad2king's answer.
5 -- Akers is surprised because Denton has left the agreed route. (We still do not need the other coppers to have been in on the deal, as they might have understood Akers to mean that Denton had left the most direct route to the station.)
7 -- I'm not sure writer Jed Mercurio had properly thought this through, as it would make more sense for the villains to be tracking Akers' car, and for Denton to have left the tracker where it was.
1) & 2) No guns were intended according to Akers in the original plan. The ambushers were going to hold up the convoy at gun point and the cops would be forced to handover their witness..The story would be that the police would have had no choice.as they weren't armed
3) ,4) & 5) The ambush was supposed to take place in Crown Ave. Denton changed her mind about the ambush at the last moment and turned left into Long Lane.
6) & 7) The killers weren't following. They were waiting in Crown Ave. When they realised that the convoy had gone off route they sped northwards up Crown Ave and into Long Lane from the other end to meet the convoy head on. The tracker was mainly used to inform the killers that Denton was leading the convoy and the car behind was to be the target. Denton clearly knew in advance that there was a tracker on her car hence her haste to remove it. Considering how quickly she found it she probably had put it on there herself. Where she went wrong was to try and place it on the other car instead of disposing of it secretly.
8). I don't think the 2 cops were in on it.. On the night of the ambush when Denton meets Akers and they suggest a route it was already decided. Discussion of the route was a ruse and just for the benefit of the cops who were in earshot. The cops were going to be witnesses to the ambush and would allay any suspicions that it might have been a set-up from the inside.
Points 7&8 were bits I was unclear about when I was watching.
i) Denton insisted that they take her car rather than a squad one - was that because she knew it had a tracker on or make easier to insist on her being the driver?
ii) But her reaction after the ambush made me think she didn't know about the tracker in advance - why bother changing route otherwise if she knows that the ambushers will still know where she is going? She made a late change of route herself after having second thoughts but when the ambush still took place realised there must have been a tracker placed on her car. So she removed it and placed it on Akers to shift focus onto her (and she's dead) - Denton was only supposed to be there quite innocently by a quirk of the rota / shift system?
On balance, leaving the tracker on Denton's car would have made it look like she was probably involved somehow, if not necessarily the mastermind - which was more or less the case.
1. Why was Fleming homeless? I don’t seem to remember that she was married in the first series.
2. How did Carly get to her new location off her own steam or with financial help from another (Denton etc).
3. The first ep clearly showed Denton telling Akers the route along the back road and her agreeing, the last ep suggested a change of heart/plan, but it had already been suggested by her!
4. When Dot finally caught up with Morton in the Police car park; Morton had his walking stick again, how? Dot took it onto the golf course, or does Morton have a fold up pocket walking stick!
5. Denton saw Prasad whilst Tommy assaulted Carley, so she should have recognised him in the woods (or maybe not).
6. Why did Denton try smother Prasad after his confession whilst trapped and why were AC-12 eager to keep news of his survival from her.
Like others I enjoyed the series but felt the last episode was a little rushed. Pity.
1. Fleming was married in the first series but you only find out just before the end credits go up , she goes home to be greeted by husband and son, she was homeless because it looks like hubby found out about her affair with akers and kicked her out
2 We don't know though
3 answered by johnnymc
4 I guess he had a spare
5 Perhaps she did, but was careful not to reveal it.
6 She was worried her actions might back fire on her if he survived? AC12 were keeping their options open. If Denton thought he was dead, she might let something slip which could be used against her if Prasad corroborated it.
Thanks all with answers given. Completely forgot about Flemings family. My mistake, re spare walking stick, didn't realize it was the next day, thought it was a couple of hours later.
AA Gill review of Keeley Hawes
You have to laugh that a smarmy London food critic can pontificate about the work of a fabulous actress. Never mind - AA Gill is an insufferable pompous bore - Keeley Hawes has proved herself to be a wonderful actress, Mr Gill keep yapping on about various crap London restaurants, visit Scotland once a year and pretend you're a Scot.& carry on getting all your PRs to do your work for you. One day you might actually find a decent restaurant that's not in London.
It has a similar story line about corruption in the Police force, but the main character is a lawyer and is not involved in the corruption.
We've been away so looked forward to watching the final couple of episodes on recorder....but what a lame ending!!!
I don't mind that justice is not done so if Denton was the only one to get a harsh time that's a good story line for a series about police corruption but it is time writers treated viewers with some respect and gave us an ending that made sense and we didn't have to speculate about. It is typical writer arrogance to have so many lose ends that the mere mortals who watch it could not possibly understand.
Don't writers understand that it is much better to leave us with a "wow, that was a good twist.." than with an "uh....? What was that all about?". It's pretty lame and lazy writing in my opinion - shame as it was very well acted and started with promise.
If there are 2 more series I hope they get a better writer!!
Well, I'm sorry you felt that way about the conclusion but it's in the nature of Mercurio's work that there are shades of grey and ambiguities. Frankly I'm happy to forego neat Scooby Doo-style plot resolutions in favour of the gripping story, fantastic acting and masterly direction. Mercurio is unquestionably a good writer and I look forward to more of his work.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/line-of-duty-daniel-mays?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_press_office&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=corporate
I wonder if Keeley will be coming back, I loved her character.
Fantastic.
If I had one person to choose it would have been him. Totally ecstatic, he's a brilliant actor.
I know, just wishful thinking for an Ashes to Ashes reunion.
I agree, can't wait. He will fit right in.