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12th Apr 2021

Line of Duty fans think they’ve worked out who Jo Davidson’s mystery relative is

Episode 4 left line of Duty fans with a huge cliffhanger, set to transform the whole series, and we'll be trying to guess the revelation for the next week

Reuben Pinder

Mother. Of. God.

Before it aired, episode four of series 6 was hyped as the best Line of Duty episode since it first hit our screens in 2012. Martin Compston said “if we deliver it has the potential to be a classic.” And boy did they deliver. A shootout with the OCG, Steve pulling off a shot most Call of Duty addicts would be proud of, a murder in prison, Ryan putting a gun to Jo’s head, and a big fucking cliffhanger at the end.

Focusing on the very end of the episode, which had thousands of of viewers rewinding their telly to see who the photograph on the piece of paper was (it’s Jo Davidson, as if they would leave the big reveal their in the age of pausing TV), all the discussion in the aftermath surrounds who this mystery relative of Jo Davidson’s could be.

By the looks of social media, viewers are going full Charlie Kelly, mapping out every plotline from series 1 to work out who it might be, and while Jed Mercurio will probably catch us all by surprise, there seems to be a broad consensus that it is John Corbett.

Corbett was deep undercover with the OCG in series 5, before he had his throat slit by Ryan Pilkington. Steve Arnott and Ted Hastings both still have (very different) relations with Corbett’s widow, Steph, which will only complicate this already complex plot even further.

The main piece of evidence pointing towards John Corbett relates back to a previous episode in this series. After Jo’s row with Farida, during which she told her she didn’t have a family, she later throws a glass at a photograph in her bedroom. Freeze frames of this scene show the photo to contain a younger Jo Davidson with what appears to be her mother, as seen here.

Many viewers have pointed out that this could be Anne-Marie McGillis, Corbett’s biological mother who went missing in 1989.

McGillis was also a key informant for Hastings during his time in Northern Ireland.

The photos alone are a strong case for Corbett being Jo’s brother, and fans appear convinced.