Line Of Duty's Anna Maxwell Martin has revealed she just "went for it" with her character's nasty ways.
Anna plays the passive aggressive DCI Patricia Carmichael in the show, and has admitted the character is "just trying to do her job."
"There were a couple of bits [in the script] where she was nasty and I just went for it. And then she morphed into a horror show," she told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning.
"I think she’s just misunderstood, she’s just trying to do her job. She probably just wants a nice cuddle, Pat. She’s just a bit cross.”
Carmichael's facial expressions have taken on a life of their own since she made a surprise return to the show earlier this month, gracing many a meme. Anna even admits she gives 'The Face' to her children.
She explained: "I think I do give them the face, occasionally. I think I save the face for very special occasions when they need to get a grip, the kids, when I’m really at my wit’s end. All parents have the face, don’t they?"
As for Carmichael's fraught relationship with the beloved Superintendent Ted Hastings? "Ted needs to toughen up a bit, doesn’t he?," she said. "Poor old Ted, I’m worried about myself, people really hate me because they really love Ted. She’s definitely his nemesis and that’s really good fun. We have good fun filming the scenes.”
She also discussed the fan theory circulating after Sunday's (25 April) episode that her character was sending a message through clicks of a pen. "I think I was just bored," Anna explained. "Those scenes are very long. I think I was like, 'What am I saying next?'"
Anna also revealed that she doesn't have a clue who H is. "When I was filming Line of Duty, I was filming Motherland at the same time, so I was rushing onto each set and I just can’t remember anything.
"Either that or they play tricks on you and when they drop you off in Belfast they blank your mind, so you can’t remember anything."
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV and catch up on ITV Hub
Line of Duty concludes on Sunday 2 May at 9pm on BBC One
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