For the past few weeks, much of the population has spent their Sunday evenings glued to the TV screen as Line of Duty - Jed Mercurio's compulsive crime procedural - continues to bring the thrills and twists in its current, sixth series. Every week, viewers try to catch their breath before their own investigations start online, with search traffic for terms explored and missed connection spiking as the programme ends. With screen grabbing and social media, no clue is going unnoticed, and this week saw eagle-eyed fans conclude that they had made a major discovery about the outcome of the latest episode's cliffhanger. In short, they think that they know if Kate has survived. Spoiler alert, of course.
Cast your mind back to Sunday. Kate, played by Vicky McClure, made the slightly ill-informed decision to meet Jo Davidson - Kelly Macdonald - in a dark car park. She realised pretty soon that this was a mistake, when her colleague - bent copper Ryan Pilkington - pulled a gun. Moments after, we heard a shot, and the episode ended. Who pulled the trigger? Who was hit? Could Kate, a veteran of the show, be dead?
Fans think no. Not because killing off a series regular is impossible - Jed would surely not miss out on the chance to mix things up a bit - but because a series 6 trailer released to tease Line of Duty's arrival last month contains a scene that we have not seen on the show itself yet. It shows Kate and Jo at night, in the same clothes that they were wearing in the shoot-out scene, looking solemn. That suggests, of course, that both are still alive. The absence of Ryan could imply that he has perished, but he could have been shot, injured and taken to hospital to ponder his villainy.
Adrian Dunbar, who plays Ted Hastings, was on Good Morning Britain this week and was asked to spill on proceedings. Naturally, he kept tight-lipped, but did say that 'a lot of Line of Duty fans know what's going on, all will be revealed in the fullness of time.' So it does sound like someone's been barking up the right tree.
Is this conclusive? No. We cannot rule out the possibility that the trailer is a clever ruse to ensure that Kate's death is as shocking as possible. And Adrian could be in on it too. But it seems like a pretty compelling piece of evidence that we will see her alive and well on Sunday.
But will she survive the series? We're still not sure what to think of Jo...
READ MORE: This Video Will Get You Up To Date With Line Of Duty's Last Five Seasons In Just Six Minutes
READ MORE: So What Do We Know About Line Of Duty's Tommy Hunter?
READ MORE: All The Best Line Of Duty Season 6 Memes To See You Through Until Episode 6