Sunday evening was once a time when many people in the West of Scotland went to services at their local church. There was also a time when they went to their local pub.
Nowadays, it is spent with their feet up in front of the telly watching Countryfile, the Antiques Roadshow, Call the Midwife and … wait for it …Line of Duty.
That show has a most unlikely hero. Superintendent Ted Hastings, played by Adrian Dunbar, and has become famed for his one-liners throughout Line of Duty.
And wherever you go, whether it’s on the bus , the train or round at your friend’s house to sit in the garden, these inevitably crop up.
What would previously have been frowned upon as “bad language” has become something to be dropped into the conversation to raise a smile.
During an interrogation of DCI Joanne Davidson, played by Kelly Macdonald, Hastings became so exhausted with her repeated response of “no comment” while he was trying to discover the identity of the infamous ‘H’, that he uttered the phrase “Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey” – and the world went crazy.
Fundamentalists will pull you up for it, but others will laugh and tell you that “Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey is a belter of a quote – especially since it’s exactly what someone like Hastings would say in the circumstances.”
The publicists for the series are delighted. Twitter has been set alight with it. One tweet said: “It’s an absolute cracker of line, Hastings is a gift that keeps on giving #LineofDuty #Hastings”.
Adrian Dunbar as Ted Hastings in Line of Duty.
It recorded an average of 11 million viewers and 51.7 per cent of the audience share, according to the broadcaster.
Acting Detective Superintendent Joanne Davidson, played by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald, is one of those suspects.
Kelly told the PA news agency even she did not know about a pivotal twist about her character’s parentage until halfway through filming.
The Trainspotting star, 45, told the PA news agency even she did not know about a pivotal twist about her character’s parentage until halfway through filming.
She said: “Jed Mercurio, man, he is troublesome. He keeps a lot to himself. I feel like Martin (Compston, co-star), pictured right, always heard about things first. I felt like he would get the lay of the land.
“I don’t know if that was just because he is so on top of everything and understands everything acutely and what the connotations are.
“I didn’t have the full story on Jo. I just knew that things hadn’t been great for her. Jed kept saying, ‘She is this enigmatic figure’ and he was being enigmatic himself.
“By the time we came back after the first lockdown I knew what was up.”
Speaking about which stars know the identity of H, she added: “The main cast know. I don’t know about everybody. H knows who H is… Like I said, I don’t know the whole cast, but I know the top cast.”
Despite a number of revelations about Davidson linking her to criminal groups, Macdonald said she believed her to be a good person – “I think she has got a good core. I really do,” she said.
The Line of Duty series final airs on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday at 9pm.
Meanwhile, the two lines I have used myself from time to time are: Lord save us and keep us in wee dugs and She has two chances, a dug’s and nane.
If you can think of a name for the wee donkey, drop us an e mail at heaneymedia@btinternet.com