Warning: this piece contains spoilers for episode 3 of Line of Duty series 5
Farewell then, Line Of Duty's love-to-hate-him Les Hargreaves. In the adrenaline-pumping heist which dominated episode three, a masked corrupt cop was shockingly killed.
It turned out to be Serious Crime Squad’s DCS Lester Hargreaves (played by Tony Pitts), a recurring supporting character who has long rubbed anti-corruption unit AC-12 up the wrong way. So who exactly was Hargreaves, what was he up to and was he “H”? Here’s your full briefing dossier…
Who was Hargreaves?
A strapping detective with slicked-back hair, Seventies-style specs and a strong Yorkshire accent who has loitered in the background of Line Of Duty’s morally murky world for five years.
This dour and abrasive incidental character has popped up in three of the cop corruption thriller’s five series. Here’s a brief rundown of the part he played in the plot each time…
Series two, aka “the Keeley Hawes one”
When we first encountered Hargreaves, he was leading the Major Violent Crime Unit (MVCU). After DC Georgia Trotman (Jessica Raine) was shockingly thrown to her death from a hospital window, Hargreaves interrogated DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston), convinced that he and Trotman weren’t visiting patient Tommy Hunter on “lawful business”.
He was dismissive of AC-12’s ongoing investigation into the ambush of a police convoy and mocked Steve for his inability to prevent Trotman’s death, sneering “there were two of you and one of him”.
Hargreaves was revealed to be best buddies with slippery DCC Mike Dryden (Mark Bonnar), who AC-12 were investigating, and sarcastically said to Supt Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar): “It must be nice up there on your pedestal… but it’s further to fall.”
He further clashed with AC-12 over his decision not to tell them that a tracking device had been found on one of the convoy vehicles. When Hastings tried to persuade him that AC-12 weren’t the enemy, Hargreaves replied that he should tell that to Dryden, "the best boss" he ever had.
As the series ended, an epilogue revealed that Hargreaves and the MVCU continued to investigate the conspiracy to murder gangster Hunter in the ambush.
Series four, aka “the Thandie Newton one”
When viewers were reintroduced to Hargreaves after a series-long gap, he was now heading up Murder Squad. Along with new sidekick DS Sam Railston (Arnott’s ex-girlfriend, played by Aiysha Hart), Hargreaves was picked as a neutral party to interview Nick Huntley (Lee Ingleby) because he had no professional links to the suspect’s wife, DCI Roz Huntley (Thandie Newton).
He accused Nick Huntley of being responsible for the death of forensics co-ordinator Tim Ifield (Jason Watkins) but failed to pin it on him. Rightly so, it turned out, because Huntley’s wife did it.
At the end of the series, Hargreaves’ mugshot was glimpsed on AC-12’s evidence board alongside Hastings, ACC Derek Hilton (Paul Higgins) and other senior officers who could potentially be the nefarious “H”. Which brings us to…
Series five, aka “the Stephen Graham one”
Now transferred to the Serious & Organised Crime Unit, Hargreaves and Railston attended the aftermath of an armed police raid on the HQ of Slater’s biker gang, in which large amounts of cash and heroin were seized.
While interviewing Slater (Barry Aird), Hargreaves accused him of hijacking the ED-905 police convoy and killing three officers in the process. Slater denied any involvement, correctly claiming he was being set up by rival Lisa McQueen (Rochenda Sandall) to put him out of business.
When McQueen’s gang boss John Corbett (Stephen Graham) insisted that her mysterious high-ranking police contact be present on the night of the Eastfield Depot raid to ensure he didn’t double-cross them, viewers were led to assume it was Hastings.
When he eventually arrived, though, it turned out to be balaclava-clad Hargreaves - who had also cunningly set up the fake ambush of a police vehicle nearby to justify his presence in the area and divert AC-12’s attention.
How did he die?
After Hargreaves informed the gang that police tracking devices had been fitted to their stolen loot, they removed them and the GPS signals disappeared.
Everyone was about to flee when undercover cop Corbett suddenly span around and shot the retreating Hargreaves in the legs - later claiming he’d deliberately aimed low to wound, so the corrupt cop couldn’t escape and would be questioned by AC-12.
However, Hargreaves sustained arterial thigh wounds, bled heavily on the ground and later died in hospital.
How corrupt was he?
It’s yet to be fully established but Hargreaves had always been hostile towards Hastings, Arnott and their mission to root out bent coppers.
It’s certain that he colluded with the organised crime on the Eastfield raid and faked the emergency call. But how did Hargreaves know about the tracking devices? Just educated guesswork or was he tipped off by another police insider - perhaps even “H”?
There was a suggestion that either Hargreaves or Hastings could have been the unidentified light-haired, middle-aged man with a strong accent who was photographed leaving the brothel by police surveillance cameras - and that he might have been blackmailed with a used condom kept in frozen storage. Which is nice.
Was he “H”?
Well, he’s antagonistic to anti-corruption and his surname began with the right initial. Hargreaves has also been a recurring presence throughout Line Of Duty’s inter-connected conspiracies.
However, he’s never seemed terribly quick-witted, charismatic or duplicitous, so it’s hard to imagine him as a string-pulling criminal mastermind. We’re sure writer Jed Mercurio has twists in store, so watch this space during the last three episodes of the series.
Where have I seen actor Tony Pitts before?
Pitts spent a decade playing roguish handyman Archie Brooks in Emmerdale before the character died in the Yorkshire soap’s infamous 1993 plane crash.
Since then, Pitts' TV credits include Red Riding, My Mad Fat Diary, Scott & Bailey, Jamestown and another shady policeman: Peaky Blinders’ corrupt Inspector Moss, who is in the pay of the cap-clad Brummie mobsters. An omen? Only time, and Jed Mercurio, will tell.
Do you think Hargreaves was "H"? What do you think about him as a character? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
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