Entertainment
Line of Duty star shares the moment H was revealed behind the scenes: ‘I couldn’t believe it’
*Warning: Contains spoilers for Line of Duty*
Line of Duty star Alastair Natkiel has revealed the moment the identity of H was revealed behind the scenes on the show, saying he ‘couldn’t believe it’.
Viewers were blindsided when DCI Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle) was revealed as the ‘fourth man’ in the series six finale, and it seems like some of the stars were just as surprised as fans.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Alastair said that he was only informed of H’s identity after arriving to film the last series in Belfast.
The actor, who plays OCG member Lee Banks on the hugely popular drama, revealed the moment he discovered the news while staying in the same hotel as co-star Nigel.
‘I was given the scripts to read when I got to Belfast, and I had a week of quarantining in the hotel room,’ he said.
‘I asked for the scripts that week and read through them,’ he added. ‘Nigel’s a mate of mine. We’ve been mates for a while. He text me, saying: “Have you read the scripts?” I said, “No I’ve got them but I need to read them.” And he said: “Oh, read them, read them.”
‘I told him I would, but said that I was doing other stuff,’ Alastair explained. ‘I told him I was doing a bit of work, but I was basically just watching Netflix in the hotel room and going to the gym once a day. That was about it, because there was nothing else to do.’
Alistair, who was staying just a few hotel rooms down from Nigel at the time, went on to say that he could barely contain himself when he finally read the scripts.
‘[Nigel] messaged me from down the hall, because we were on the same floor in this hotel. He kept messaging me to ask me whether I’d read them and I said: “No, just chill out. Leave me alone, I’ll read them.” Obviously when I got to the end of them, I realised why he’d been so keen. He could have told me and it wouldn’t have been a problem, but technically he wasn’t allowed to.’
Alastair was also grateful that Nigel had kept the secret under wraps and allowed him to discover it for himself.
‘He knew I was reading the script and he didn’t want to ruin it. I couldn’t believe it, and I immediately picked up my phone and rang him. He’d been sitting on that information for months.’
Alastair also discussed the supposed ‘plot hole’ from episode four, which some fans believed contradicted the reveal of Buckells as H.
Actor Nigel previously spoke about the moment Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio told him he was the ‘fourth man’ back in 2020.
‘We’d had the first four scripts and started filming some of series six when we had to stop due to the first lockdown,’ Nigel told BBC Breakfast. ‘When we were about to resume filming, Jed sent me a text saying, “Are you free for a chat at some point today? Don’t worry it’s not that call…”.
‘He called me and said, “the scripts for the next episodes are going to be sent out imminently and so it’s time to tell you the secret that I’ve been keeping, you’re going to be revealed as someone rather significant.”‘
Line Of Duty is available to stream on catch-up on BBC iPlayer
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MORE : Line of Duty star addresses series 6 ‘plot hole’ which left fans confused following H reveal
