Vicky McClure spills the beans on the twists and shocks in store as Line of Duty returns
Vicky McClure is back on the case as gung-ho anti-corruption cop DS Kate Fleming in the new series of BBC1 crime drama Line of Duty. TV & Satellite Week took her in for questioning to find out more about the thrilling fourth series, which sees AC-12 investigate enigmatic detective Roz Huntley (Thandie Newton) over her handling of an enquiry into a serial killer…
Is this AC-12’s toughest investigation? “Trust me, it is the most complicated case we have ever dealt with in Line of Duty! The forensic side of the case is going to give the audience a lot to play with. You won’t be able to go and make a cup of tea, you are going to have to listen and pay attention to lots of little details, which is brilliant. People love going into the office the next day and giving each other their theories and they will chop and change their opinions this time because there is an awful lot going on this year.”
Did you enjoy working with Thandie Newton? “We had so much fun and she has this presence where you instantly just feel at ease. I just couldn’t quite get my head around the fact she was in it. I call her ‘Hollywood!’ She even came to see me in a play in Nottingham recently, she is so lovely.”
What is Kate’s relationship like with Steve [Martin Compston] now that she is the same rank as him? Is he angry? “Yeah he is! It is quite funny because Martin and I are really close, like brother and sister, and Martin is actually Number One on the filming call sheet for Line of Duty, which he loves! So he says, “We might be the same rank but I am still Number One!” We have quite a bit of fun playing around with that.”
Will there be more of the subway scenes where Kate and Steve share information? “Yes but that subway absolutely stinks! They do literally get the bleach out before we start just because it is so distracting. But we do like those scenes because Line of Duty is starting to get its own style with the interrogation scenes and the subway scenes, they are becoming something that people are familiar with.”
Would you like to stick with the show for the foreseeable future? “Line of Duty is a job that I absolutely adore to do, it has become like This is England that I did for about 10 years. I am just lucky enough to work with people that I really like, I have got great friends on the show and you can always guarantee the scripts are going to be really strong and your characters are always going to continue to develop. Every year I am turning the page of the script waiting to be killed off but I am just glad it hasn’t happened yet!”
After last year’s finale saw Kate going after her corrupt colleague Dot with all guns blazing, viewers said you should be the next James Bond – would you be up for it?! “Oh it is never going to happen in a million years - a Nottingham gal playing Bond! It would be genius obviously if that ever came along but it just won’t. I have had a lot of fun with it though and I lapped it up a bit - why not?!”
Watch the trailer for the new series of Line of Duty here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUzQhOmroIY
Line of Duty returns on Sunday 26th March at 9pm on BBC1
