For the minimum three years sentence.
Getting off with self-defence is really, really hard, says Mercurio,reallyhard.
I did the research.
Its good advice, if alarming in the context of a DVD release-plugging interview.
Youd expect him to be;Line Of Dutyis exceptional.
Series fours move from BBC Two to BBC One has paid off.
Im keen to get the figures right talking to Mercurio because hes a precise thinker.
He knows statistics and trends, and is particular about differentiating between anecdotal and substantive evidence.
Whatever calculation you care to make,Line Of Dutyis riding high.
A fifth series was commissioned last year and will likely arrive in 2019.
The mysteries of series fourwho is Balaclava Man?
Or as Mercurio puts it, Were in a fortunate position right now.
Thats roughly as giddy as he gets.
he laughs.Line Of Dutyseries four went out on a Sunday night.
Earlier today, onThis Morningwith Phillip Schofield, you said…
[Laughs] You were watching that?!
Dont you have a life?
As a writer and director, what is it that you consider you do and dont owe your audience?
Id always imagined you as being pretty immune to fan pressure, if thats the right word for it.
Then in terms of what people aretalkingabout, Iaminterested in what people have to say about the series.
Social media has allowed people to have their say.
All of which brings me to the question of Ted Hastings.
You wouldnt mind breaking the nations heart in service of story?
Thats probably true, yeah.
I think that the story has to work.
Then I can start moving them in a different direction.
It was intentionally a grey area.
It divides viewers in the way that maybe a lot of portrayal of sexism in contemporary drama doesnt.
Its very easy to show overt sexism where everybody knows that its crossed the line.
I wanted to put Ted Hastings in that position.
I think that Hastings view would be that he doesnt believe that non gender-neutral language is sexist in itself.
Teds from a different era, isnt he?
I think its about finding that grey area.
That particular one did, yeah.
Some do and some dont.
What happens is Adrian will say something and that gets put into the script at a later point.
There is a desire to keep him idiomatic in line with his background.
Those phrases are key to the attraction of the character.
I remember writing once that Teds bilingual he speaks both police and human.
I think youre right.
Its part of making those scenes transparent to the audience.
When was the last time you watched, or re-read series one?
I dont think Ive seen it since it went out.
You didnt go back to those scripts while writing series four?
Those scenes feel to me to me very much of a pair.
I remember the scene reasonably well.
What else was written and/or filmed that didnt make it into the series four episodes?
Did you write any more scenes for Hilton after he was unveiled, for instance?
There were never any scenes of him on the run.
There was a scene in the last episode between him and Jamie that we didnt include.
Unfortunately it was a small scene that didnt make the final cut.
Yeah, but then, in the edit, you have to have those questions for yourself anyway.
Thats always a process.
In the end, you have to come up with the best judgement about how important a point is.
Take a character like DS Neil Twyler [Mark Stobbart].
How much effort goes into making him look potentially dodgy in early episodes to create suspicion?
Youre doing our job for us!
Theres nothing dodgy about Neil Twyler [laughs].
Thats about the way in which people watch something when they know theyre watching a crime drama.
Two things about that were intentional.
That gag just occurred to me as I was writing the dialogue.
I like to think Kates just a huge nerd about late nineties British alt-comedy.
Shes big intoBrass Eye…
[Laughs] Yeah,Spaced, all that.
It goes back to the first question about what we owe the audience.
Also, if you linger on something then it has a value.
His meeting overran, he told Roz.
We still dont know quite what Nick was doing on November the 25th, do we?
Well, we do.
He was at a conference in Northampton and then he drove home.
Presumably he got home to an empty house and no-one can vouch for him.
At what specific point did the H equipment occur to you?
It was something that occurred a little bit later.
It was really a matter of time.
We also know, anecdotally, that people watch the episodes more than once.
In that way, I think we just have to have the courage of our convictions.
[Laughs] I think that actually transitions into having a life!
I think its that middle ground thats the problem.
[Laughs] That freeze-frame knowledge must affect things in the edit.
This is the madness youve foist upon us!
We have those same conversations on set!
Did we see that?!
Did you end up using shots of Scott in that scene?
We didnt use any shot where it came onto his face.
There was a little bit that was his arm.
We did lots of coverage of Scott.
Believe me, you couldnt tell.
We have to talk about Thandie Newton as your lead this series.
Her performance as DCI Roz Huntley was extraordinary for its… composure, I think thats the word.
I gather when you directed her the notes were all do less, give away less.
She kept that unreadable Renaissance portrait-like mask almost throughout.
The idea I suppose is always to have us asking ourselves questions about her.
Like she says to Nick, Dont listen to what I say, look at what I do.
It is a powerful way of showing character.
That emotion is also part of her journey.
The idea of a physical stigma is quite appealing.
Its there for her but its also there for the audience.
Arent AC-12 aware of this?
In series two, we made the Lindsay Denton character so enigmatic that the audience never knew.
I think thats probably the way that Kate sees her.
Kate thinks shes a bit more rock and roll than Roz.
At home, Roz is often doing housework, shes always picking up dirty washing.
Perhaps thats just a bit of realism with teenage kids in the house!
The first time we see her shes unloading the dishwasher.
All those things were in the script.
Jimmy Lakewell and Hilton didnt get any redemption though did they not deserve it?
You have to make the choice about how much time youve spent with a character.
Having people who make bad decisions and who think that theyre good people… Rozthinksthat shes a good person.
You dont write characters in terms of true villainy.
No, and Im not really particularly interested in that.
In the real world of police corruption, its always much more mundane.
Whereas our antagonists inLine Of Dutyand the characters who are collateral to the antagonists, they are conflicted.
Its more something which is a feature of the way institutions operate.
The thing aboutthe breast surgeon…
Gosh, yeah.
I read that over the weekend.
You think, how could that happen?
Its very easy to convince people that theyre doing the right thing.
Hastings has that same quality.
Hilton will have had the same mantras, he will have led a retinue.
That line Jodie parrots about the police preserving life.
Was it always a goal of yours to work with Baladi again after that series?
Theyve always been not available or the role hasnt been right for whatever reason.
I think you have to make them pretty clever.
and working all that through.
Sometimes, the character has the time to do that and other times they dont.
Was there ever a plan for him to get away and not be jailed at the end?
I think that probably depended on how long that finale was going to be.
A spin-off, like!
Since you mention that, I have to ask if theres any chance of anEndeavour-style prequel for Ted?
Ted Hastings: the Ulster Years?
Er, thats a definite no!
[Mercurio makes polite, non-committal noises]
Moving on!
Did you intend that to be a critique?
Yeah, I did and I did the research!
Its really, really hard to get off with self-defence,reallyhard.
As a police officer, youd know that.
Hence dont take that chance!
And thats not going to play well in front of a jury.
Thats going to put doubt in the jurys mind.
I think if people really are interested in these things, theyll often go and look them up.
Then there is a group of the audience who are curious and will enter into a constructive debate.
Jed Mercurio, thank you very much!
LINE OF DUTY SERIES 4 AND COMPLETE SERIES 1 4 BOX SET ARE AVAILABLE ON DVD FROM 8 MAY
