LINE Of Duty’s Kelly MacDonald admits even she struggles to get her head around the show’s quirky acronyms.
The former Boardwalk Empire star is right at the heart of the latest series of the popular crime drama as DCI Joanne Davidson.
The show is known for its use of acronyms such as OCG, MIT and CHIS, and the latter left many fans baffled during the premiere episode of series one.
Kelly, 45, admits she gets just as confused as the fans and was so nervous about the acronyms, she didn’t immediately sign up to be on the show.
She confessed: “I did have to think about it. The shock, really, was when I read the first episode. Suddenly it was just, ‘Oh, there’s a massive long stream of dialogue about stuff I’ve never heard of’.
“I did have to get over that obstacle in my mind, because I knew that was going to be quite challenging.”
Line of Duty first hit screens back in 2012 and Kelly has lived in the US since 2010, where she starred on Boardwalk Empire from 2010-2014.
That perhaps contributed to the star sharing she had never previously seen an episode of the BBC cop show.
However, she was soon brought up to speed with the lingo by her new crew and co-stars.
The Harry Potter star said: “There would be certain acronyms we would discuss in rehearsals. And hair and make-up had a list of what everything stood for. “I’m not brilliant at it still, but I get by.”
In the the latest episode of the new series, Davidson was issued with a regualtion-15 notice and was to be questioned by AC-12.
They wanted to know why Davidson’s police report about the murder of Gail Vella was inconsistent, and how she noticed a lone van was outside a bookies to commit armed robbery, in addition to why she went to stop it rather than doing her intended job of arresting Gail’s murderer.
The cop was able to avoid arrest and set up her ex lover and ex colleague Farida Jatri and she was brought in for questioning after burner phones were found at her home.
As the episode drew to a close, Davidson met with a strange man to collect another burner phone before sobbing uncontrollably in her car.
This made it seem as though she is not leading a double life of her own free will.
Line of Duty continues Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.
