Line of Duty fans have long been wondering who the final member of the Organised Crime Gang H is. Currently, DI Matthew Cotton (played by Craig Parkinson), Chief Superintendent Derek Hilton (Paul Higgins) and lawyer Gill Biggeloe (Polly Walker) have all been confirmed as having a role in the gritty underworld as the first three members. While there have been many characters who seem up to the task of having a criminal alter-ego, all evidence points to Detective Chief Inspector Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle) who’s next in the firing line.
Series five’s big twist revealed H is not just one person, so we all backtracked over the past five seasons to try and identify who had enough screen-time to be named as the last mystery villain.
Now, in a video essay exploring just that, YouTube user Clem put his in-depth fan knowledge to the test to unravel how Buckells is one to watch.
After all, actor Nigel previously said of his character: “There’s more to Buckells than meets the eye!”
Clem began by revealing the neccessary characteristics of H: “Undercover cop John Corbett (Stephen Graham) was certain H was a senior police officer.
“If he’s correct, we must be looking for someone of inspector rank and has been for some time.”
READ MORE: Line of Duty: Could Ted Hastings STILL be H? Star drops huge ‘spoiler’
First appearing in season one, Buckells is appointed Senior Investigating Officer on the Jackie Laverty case, taking over from DCI Tony Gate (Lenny James).
He’s next seen in series four, again appointed as SIO after DCI Roz Huntley (Thandi Newton) is removed from Operation Trapdoor on the recommendation of AC-12.
But Clem points out – who appointed him? Hilton, of course.
At the end of series five, Hilton was found dead at a significant spot a number of other characters met their grisly demise, in a murder that was staged to look like a suicide.
Out of the three members caught, Hilton was the only one to be killed – begging the question: Did he know the real identity of the last member?
Clem doesn’t believe that Dot or Gill actually knew who their other colleague was, otherwise The Caddy would have given up their name in his dying declaration and Gill would have sung like a canary now she’s co-operating with AC-12 after going into witness protection.
“Hilton was already trying to lead cases away from the OCG. He put himself in charge of the Greek Lane murders case, pushing the idea that it was connected to terrorists instead of drug dealers and Buckells does the same,” Clem suggested, before explaining his dodgy actions.
It’s sounding pretty convincing so far…
“In operation Trapdoor, he directed suspicion onto Tim Ifield (Jason Watkins) and Hannah Reznikova (Gaite Jansen) putting the search for balaclava man on the back-burner.
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“Buckells used the same methods as Hilton, a known member of H to stop Organised Crime being linked to both of these cases.”
He continued: “Buckells was also the one who permitted Dot to speak to Tommy Hunter (Brian McCardle) following his arrest.
“Ian was also interested in Dot taking the inspectors exam, which would see him too, become a senior police officer and Dot went on to become one of the four members of H.”
There was also that bizarre moment Buckells legged it into the interview room once he realised Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) was interviewing Ryan Pilkington (Gregory Piper), and then proceeded to speak to him afterwards, in dialect we don’t get to hear.
Fans of the BBC show applauded Clem for his in-dept cnalaysis and putting two and two together, woith one saying: “Great great points, Buckells definitely fits the MO for the classic whodunnit perp as someone always present but in the background enough to not draw suspicion to the audience.
