I’m not writing this as a Line of Duty fan. Even though I am one.

I’m writing it as a writer.

Likewise, I’m not writing this to defend last night’s highly-anticipated series six finale of the fan-favourite TV show.

I’m writing it to defend the writer.

Okay, I know that the powerhouse that is Jed Mercurio doesn’t exactly need some business blogger from Bolton to stand up for him, but I get a bit funny when people start being dickheads in criticising a kind of creativity most of us could only ever crave.

I love a good fan theory as much as the next geek, but seriously, before I get grief, the purpose of this piece really isn’t to deal with plot holes, loop holes or arseholes when it comes to what happened in last night’s final episode of Line of Duty, and I’m not here to answer or even entertain the questions that were thrown up either by the episode itself or by the programme’s fans (if some of them are still calling themselves that).

I’m here to question why the hell the show’s creator and writer, the master Mercurio, is being blasted all over social media as a “terrible writer” and/or creator of “shit writing”.

Really?

The guy who kept you entertained and engrossed, gripped and guessing for 10 years and six series… is a terrible writer?

Right, okay. Lols.

What Mercurio gave you may not have been the ending you wanted or the ending you expected, but I think that’s the fucking point, to be honest.

It was clear from day one of this series that the mighty Mercurio was taking risks, but we loved it. We must have done, because otherwise, viewing figures wouldn’t have risen week on week, and twitter would have had pretty much nothing else to show as trending in the UK in place of the show’s presence in our lives. Was there even anything else worth talking about? We watched in confusion but hilarity as we battled with Google to find out what the hell the million and one new acronyms stood for (don’t lie, you sniggered at ‘CHIS handler’), and we reveled in the joy of a Monday morning Hastings hangover, as we downed shot after shot to fill our Tedism bingo cards. At one point, the risk taking was so great that I was convinced that the characters would ‘break the fourth wall’ in some kind of OCJesus Mary and Joseph jest, and we’d all play along and tweet joyously as one of our beloved trio gave a saucy knowing glance at the camera. We suspended our disbelief, and we fucking loved it.

Great writers have all those wonderful effects on you. They allow us – even within a hard-hitting ‘real-life’ subject – to suspend that disbelief yet still cling on for more. I’m so glad that the finale last night was no different, and that Mercurio managed to provoke a reaction, to stun, and to make us ask some serious questions. Christ knows the world needs great writers in a space where everyone’s desperate to have their voice heard right now. We need risk taking writers, and the next time you scroll aimlessly through social media and realise that you’re physically and mentally bored shitless by everyone’s ‘hilarious’ or ‘insightful’ posts, maybe you’ll realise how important truly great writing is.

For the purpose of the DIR, I’ll state once again that you don’t have to like the episode or be happy with how things went. I know that the majority of viewers certainly fell into that category, and I totally understand. But it’s a shit state of affairs if you decide that because the writer didn’t conclude their creation in a way that you didn’t personally agree with, they are to be deemed – and even abused – as a dreadful writer. I’m stunned at how many comments on social media last night targeted the talent, not the tale.

And for those who went as far to say that Mercurio “couldn’t be bothered” to finish his work properly (yes, yes, that horse-based pencil-drawing was hilarious the first twenty times), then as an aspiring writer all I can say is that the main thing writers care about is their reputation. Do you really think Jed took the weight of expectation from AC12 million adoring fans and set out to deliberately a) piss them off, and b) undo all his great work that had led us all collectively to this point?

If you “could have written it better”, as many people on twitter in particular seemed to believe, then please, do so! Our fella Jed had probably drafted half of series seven before you’d even had your morning crap, but nevertheless, I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

If, however, your reputation for writing to date lies within the success of a tweet that racked up an impressive 5 likes and amassed you a grand total of 126 followers, I suggest you’ve probably got a good way to go, Kev, mate.

And now? Two things can happen at this point.

Either, Jed’s already written the next part of the story, in which case I trust those who called him out as a “shit writer” won’t be tuning in(?), or, he’ll leave Line of Duty where it is, and use his lasting legacy power as a truly talented writer to really make that final episode completely eat away at you; forcing you to figure out the relevance of the points he was making, and why the execution was so subtly yet terrifyingly wonderful.

Need a York Notes moment to help you out?

Replace Buckles with Boris. You’re welcome.

“But Jo, there’s no place for politics in a TV drama!”

Really? In a TV drama based wholly around police corruption, systemic failings and organisational cover-ups? Oh come on…

Under oath, I have zero problem with people not liking the Line of Duty episode last night, feeling disappointed in the path the storyline took, or not being happy about how ten years of our lives ‘ended’. I have to admit, I’m only writing this 24 hours after-the-fact as I needed time to process everything myself. But to call out Jed Mercurio as being a “bad writer”…? Mother of God.

Oh, and on that note, you know those bloody amazing, emotional, and hard-hitting lines and speeches given by Hastings in that fateful finale that you were still happy to tweet and meme about? Guess who wrote them!

Sadly, it’s all too typical for people not to get that link. TV we love? All down to the brilliance of the actors. TV we hate? All down to the fault of the writers.

I genuinely don’t understand how 13 million fans expected they’d all get their preferred ending. And what would that even look like, anyway? “We want a twist! Oh but not THAT one…!”

Whatever you thought of ‘the ending’ of last night’s Line of Duty, Jed Mercurio is responsible for some of the greatest writing and entertainment we’ve had on our screens for the past decade. I dread to think where we’d be without people of his caliber. Probably on Love Island.

I think that deserves our respect.