The Shadow Line

9:30pm – Friday, April 20 on ABC1

Lessing, an American visiting Dublin, recognises the owner of an antique clock shop as his old partner in crime, Peter Glickman (Sir Anthony Sher).

Glickman denies it’s him, follows and kills him. Meanwhile, ‘Gatehouse’ (Stephen Rea) has tracked Glickman down to Dublin, but Glickman is waiting for him. There’s a showdown, with each blaming the other for ‘Counterpoint’ and Wratten…

DI Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor) takes a call from the missing Glickman, who advises him to ‘follow the drugs’.

When he investigates, he learns that Delaney (his dead partner) had stolen coded drugs from evidence, and when they came back into customs again as the seized consignments that Harvey Wratten had tipped them off about, customs saw the original police code and knew that an officer had stolen them. But the drugs have since been destroyed.

Gabriel tells his boss Patterson (Richard Lintern) and Police Commander Khokar (Ace Bhatti) what he now knows about Delaney, and they admit they knew he’d stolen the drugs. But then Gabriel was shot – and Delaney killed. Khokar warns Gabriel that he too looks very guilty in this – and advises him to tread warily.

Meanwhile, Bede (Christopher Eccleston) tells his supplier Babur (Stanley Townsend) that Bob Harris has pulled out of the deal, because he thinks it’s a trap, but reassures him that the plan will go ahead and he’ll find another buyer. Then Ratallack (Freddie Fox) goes to Bede wanting to buy the drugs, and won’t say where the money is coming from.

9:30pm – Friday, April 27 on ABC1

DI Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor) has a brain scan and tells the doctor that his memory is slowly returning. But he still hasn’t worked out where the money in his closet has come from. He meets with Glickman (Sir Anthony Sher) who tells him he should now follow the money and ‘Counterpoint’ – and then the man with the answers, ‘Gatehouse’ (Stephen Rea), will find him.

The sinister ‘Gatehouse’, who is supplying the money for the drug deal that Ratallack (Freddie Fox) is setting up, warns him that he’s now part of the game. Bede (Christopher Eccleston) meets with drugs lord Babur (Stanley Townsend) and opens the drugs line… the deal is on.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Foley (David Schofield) is willing to give information to either side of the line – to the highest bidder.

Gabriel visits retired Commissioner Penney (Nicholas Jones) once again and asks about ‘Counterpoint’.

Penney warns that the last person who came to him asking similar questions – the journalist McGovern – is now dead. So Gabriel visits his ex, Alison (Agni Scott), and pleads with her to go into hiding with their young son.

But then ‘Gatehouse’ arrives, with Glickman not far behind.

9:30pm – Friday, April 13 on ABC1

Bob Harris picks up his toyboy Ratallack (Freddie Fox) from the police station, while ‘Gatehouse’ (Stephen Rae) watches every move.

Robert Beatty (Sean Gilder), the man who busted Harvey Wratten, tells DI Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor) Wratten’s release was a set-up, and he thinks he can prove it. So does journalist Ross McGovern (Tobias Menzies).

Believing Dixon (Wratten’s dead driver) was helped to evade arrest, DI Gabriel and Sgt. Honey search CCTV footage from the tube where they lost him. They discover that he was joined by a man in a trilby hat.

Meanwhile, Beatty’s team trap Harris’s man in a drugs bust, and he confesses he was working for Bob Harris and selling the drugs to Harvey Wratten. He tells them that Peter Glickman – who has since disappeared – had set up the deals, but another man always made the exchange. He describes the man in the CCTV footage.

DI Gabriel’s ex-mistress Alison (Agni Scott) threatens to tell his wife about their 18-month-old son, but he’s reluctant to do so because they’ve been unsuccessful with IVF six times.

Jay visits the Glickman’s son Leonard (Cavan Clerkin) and threatens his child’s safety, but it’s ‘Gatehouse’ who plays an evil game with Leonard’s wife Frieda and their baby. Inevitably, Leonard calls his father, and ‘Gatehouse’ traces the call.

Meanwhile journalist Ross McGovern is promoted to City Editor, but on the condition he drop his police corruption story. But while riding home on his motorbike he’s intercepted by an anonymous car.

9:30pm – Friday, April 6 on ABC1

‘Gatehouse’ rescues Wratten’s frightened driver Andy Dixon (Tobi Bakare) from the police and Jay Wratten (Rafe Spall). ‘Gatehouse’ tells Andy Dixon he should meet with Jay and tell him exactly what he heard when Jay’s uncle was shot. So Jay hears that a man approached the car and from the lowered back side window, said “Bob Harris says hello”, and shot Harvey dead. Jay goes immediately to tell Bede (Christopher Eccleston).

Andy goes home to pregnant wife Sara thinking he’s safe, but ‘Gatehouse’ is in hot pursuit and kills them both, along with Andy’s mother. DI Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Sgt. Honey (Kierston Wareing) are first on the scene.

Detective Superintendent Patterson (Richard Lintern) tells Gabriel the Wratten case is closed: Andy Dixon killed Wratten, his mother and his wife before committing suicide. Gabriel argues that Andy didn’t have a motive, so Patterson decides to give him a bit longer. Gabriel and Sgt. Honey notice that the only mourner at Wratten’s funeral is his nephew Jay. An unknown man enters the church, and then leaves: Sgt. Honey follows him.

Meanwhile, with threats hanging over his head to pay back what former partner Wratten lost to drugs dealer Bulkat Babur, Bede has no choice and meets with distributor Bob Harris (Robert Pugh) to discuss one last shipment.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Honey, unsure if Gabriel is a good cop, follows him home. She’s curious when he arrives at a house that isn’t his and is greeted by a woman with a small boy.

9:30pm – Friday, March 23 on ABC1

Harvey Wratten, the head of one of the UK’s largest crime organisations is found dead. He had only just been released from jail – under the very rarely obtained Royal Pardon – having served two years of an 18-year sentence for his part in importing 11 million pounds’ worth of heroin.

Assigned to investigate Wratten’s death is Det. Insp. Jonah Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor), on his first case since being shot during a botched police operation which left his partner dead. To his superior’s chagrin, he remembers nothing about what happened, because of a bullet lodged in his brain which could kill him at any time. And his colleagues regard him with suspicion.

Gabriel follows an increasingly complicated line of investigation, all the while wondering whether he can trust anyone, not least, himself. One suspect is Joseph Bede (Christopher Eccleston), an associate of Wratten’s who’s built up a legitimate fruit and flower business during Harvey’s time in prison.

Now, driven by a profound personal tragedy, Bede is planning to risk everything he has on one last deal – a massive drugs operation that will allow him to retire and step out of the business forever.

Watching from the shadows is the brilliantly lethal puppet master – Gatehouse (Stephen Rea). He knows how to find people; and he knows all their secrets.

As Gabriel begins to unravel the threads of Wratten’s organisation, the web of intrigue becomes more complex – and the line that divides the players becomes increasingly blurred.