Paul Higgins plays Line Of Dutys PR-obsessed ACC Hilton, but is there more to him than it seems?
Rampant speculation and spoilers…
Warning: contains spoilers forLine Of Dutyseries one, two, three and four (until episode four).
And some wild speculation.
How do you know when an executive officer is telling lies?
So said SI Ted Hastings reporting back after lunching with ACC Hilton inLine Of Dutyseries four episode one.
Was it, though, more than that?
Was Ted calling Hilton a liar a crucial clue as to whats really been going on in this series?
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Not so fast.
So, what exactly is going on with ACC Hilton?
Hastings his lips move jibe wasnt the first swipe hed taken at Hilton.
The hostility between Hastings and Hilton is nothing new.
Hastings and Hiltons work lunches are illustrative of the values of the participants themselves.
These chaps moral codes are written out in their menu choices.
Hastings booze is untouched.
Hilton enjoying a sneaky lunchtime vino isnt enough to make him a villain, of course.
He toasts Gates success while Ted and Steve are narrowing their eyes and generally having none of it.
Gates numbers are too good to be true, and after an AC-12 investigation, prove to be so.
Tony is found to have been laddering to unnaturally massage his crime figures.
No wonder Hilton seemed to like him so much.
Without ever coming out and saying it, massaging crime figures is Hiltons whole game.
Are you asking me to re-crime it?
The massaging of figures for PR-purposes is very muchLine Of Dutycreator Jed Mercurios theme.
Hilton and Hastings couldnt be more different on the matter of squad loyalty too.
ACC Hilton is the definition of a fair-weather friend.
Do something he can take to the Chief Commissioner for a nugget of praise, and hes all smiles.
The Crime Audit Office will be delighted!
Get publicly into a sticky patch though, and Hilton is nowhere to be seen.
And then theres the matter of the officers with whom Hilton surrounds himself.
ACC Hilton was the one who suggested Dota lifelong bent officershould go up for promotion.
(Ive been impressed Matthew, and I wonder how youd feel about sitting the Inspectors exam?).
Did he push Roz Huntley to frame Michael Farmer for two murders to protect his gangland associates?
Is he in cahoots with the same people Dot was working for?
Rewind back to a plot point in series two.
Dryden didnt plan the ambush and he didnt have Hunter killed, at least.
We know who the Caddy was, but do we know the identity of the two-faced bastard?
We had a deal raged Tommy on that video.
Who did he make that deal with?
My conclusion for the jury: ACC Hilton is Tommys two-faced bastard.
Dot cant have known Hilton was in on it, otherwise hed have named him on his deathbed.
But I suggest that Hilton knew about Dot, hence the promotion encouragement.
But had he in fact been playing her?
Its in his interest to discredit and potentially disband AC-12.
And finally, theres the question of Maneet.
At the end of series four episode four, the AC-12 favourite was seen feeding Hilton information.
Not Maneet, we gasped!
Or, you know, Hiltons just a bit of a dickhead who likes mussels.
Well know soon enough.
