The BBC’s top cop drama Line of Duty is back on our screens and viewers couldn’t help noticing how one of their favourite characters has become like inept broadcaster Alan Partridge.
Returning last night (March 31) for a fifth series, the show delivered a thrilling opener by thrusting fans into AC-12’s ongoing investigation into the corrupt police officers embedded in an expansive network of organised crime.
Read more: Line Of Duty’s new villain is “most dangerous” yet
Three coppers were killed when vans carrying seized heroin were intercepted in an ambush orchestrated by new villain John Corbett (Stephen Graham).
DI Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) went after the insider who led the gang to the convoy and stumbled upon Operation Peartree – a secretive investigation that had an officer deep undercover.
As expected it was all very serious, and yet the name of the sting got viewers thinking about Steve Coogan’s alter-ego Alan Partridge.
And when a clearly strapped-for-cash Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) was seen to be living in a shabby budget hotel, Twitter exploded with fans drawing attention to the similarities between him and everyone’s favourite fictional broadcaster, who famously spent time living in Linton Travel Tavern.
One wrote: “Ted Hastings in Alan Partridge’s Travel Tavern is heartbreaking.”
Another said: “Is Ted staying in the same Travel Tavern as Alan Partridge?”
A third commented: “Ted in a Travel Tavern? Operation Peartree? Did Jed Mercurio binge I’m Alan Partridge before writing this series of #LineOfDuty ?
Someone else pointed out: “Operation Peartree? That’s gonna drive the Alan Partridge conspiracy theorists nuts.”
A fifth said: “So Hastings is living the Alan Partridge lifestyle?”
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