The ending

The details of the detour, ambush and any other fiddles etc. are just the parts that needed fleshing out, thinking about it, it`s difficult to tell just what Denton knew and didn`t know, the whole conspiracy seemed like a party that had started well before she came along and she was only brought in to keep her quiet, and I just thought AC12 seemed to have a real sense of achievement and getting a right good old collar that they weren`t really entitled to, then the stiff sentence only added to a feeling that there are some missing scenes that show Denton being more deserving of 20+ years in prison, unless the point is that AC12 have screwed up a bit and are also a bit rubbish, but that seems a bit of a foggy message and out of character from season 1.

Jed Mercurio's Q&A on the BBC site clarifies things viewers might be confused about.

Denton detoured because she got cold feet about cooperating. But it did no good because she had the tracker on her car. So the ambush went ahead anyway.

So guess Dot was out to kill Tommy, not transfer him. Akers may have been taken in just as Denton was, but on different levels.

Dunno if Akers knew Tommy was going to be killed at that moment. Later, perhaps, after being sprung by Cotton and his band of corrupt officers. But not sure. Maybe Dot just wanted Tommy sprung so he could continue to run Cotton's lucrative vice operation with back handers and such.

The thing that makes me think Dot wanted Tommy dead was the video of Tommy AC12 had when he ranted that he'd been betrayed and he was going to take revenge. That might have been his death warrant when Dot saw that.

We also did not see the face of the person Morton was taking a large amount of money from in the epilogue. Hm. Interesting for future exploration in series 3, if there is one.

Denton seemed to want to find Carly because she'd seen her abused so badly. And, as we saw, Akers told her they were never going to stop using the girl and abusing her.

Then when cash strapped Denton saw how much money was involved to participate in a handover of a protected scumbag who was running abuse on the girl, she said okay. Did that make her a conspirator to murder officially? Did she know they were going to kill him at that point? If not, then she was convicted of the wrong charge.

And she was spared in the ambush because Dot Cottan asked Akers if Denton had wanted to know who was behind the upcoming ambush and Akers said no. So at that point Denton's life was spared. She knew nothing that could hurt Dot Cottan, because she did not know who was trying to spring Tommy. Her knowledge stopped with Akers and went no higher.

So she took some money for a one-off op, which was corruption, but possibly not conspiracy to murder, if she was unaware they were going to kill Tommy.

When Denton was busted she had nothing to offer AC12 in terms of rounding up all the corrupt officers like Dot and Morton, because she did not have the knowledge to help herself by trading that info for a reduce sentence down to simple corruption or worse.

If there is a season 3, I doubt they'll revisit an old story, but since Dot Cottan, who is pretty much the ring leader of the mass corruption going on, is going to join AC12 permanently, it would mean his story will continue. So could this give us a side-story follow up to Denton at some point?

And it might be interesting to see when it all unravels for Dot, if ever, that Denton could be set free for time served (for corruption not conspiracy to murder).

Just finished a marathon run of the last four episodes.

Had no idea that Keeley Denton [agreed played wonderfully] would in fact have succumbed to corrupt involvement but after all her vulnerability would have been seen somewhere and it is in this area that people like the police can be sucked into being part of organised gang crime units. The really unfortunate thing is that we have been party to two series in which even the good cops are bad. The DS and the DC were actually colluding regarding any dirt that Denton could have thrown.

My thinking before any great stuff was revealed did include Denton on a mini revenge mission but only due the fact she saw her ex lover being gobbled up. I felt that she may have actually had a child some time ago early in her career and given it up. This child was now a puzzle needing solved and I thought the DCC might have had the one he knows Lndsay saw killed. That it might have proved to have been his own daughter was my thought and Denton would establish this by DNA. Of course [the body in the garage]it was not the girl Denton sought. But we are now led to believe that [Asians] are happy to supply young bodies to all and sundry even if fully employed in a relatively good job.

It is not unreasonable to suggest that at the heart of our so called wonderful police force there are really corrupt individuals. Just looking at the spy rings from our own UK MI5/6 secret services with the very top man being a suspect. I am referring to the Cambridge Spies. A much smaller and tighter grouping than the Police forces of our land.

It is however very worrying.

I very much wanted Keeley Denton to come out of this head held high having exposed not only weaknesses in this special group but at even higher levels. This in turn would lead her to become AC12 group leader [just so we could see more of her obvious ability]and [she can dress up quite well you should know TIPPING THE VELVET]. She could of course still be killed off via the really bad cop grouping.

Just to show that I have checked her out I find that she is married to Matthew McFadden. Isn't that SPOOKY.

I see suggestions that the press could be financing this corrupt group possibly not intentionally to cause crime but to be able to print the stories. It did allude to the recent MP points scandal and to the press paying police again story that wont go away. When you are used to Inspector Frost grabbing a pint or a greasy spoon breakfast talking to the down at heel local hack it is thought to be ok as nothing starling is given away. However as newspapers may well just speculate all the time one papers headlines are shared between The Weather, for a long time and maybe returning, The Diana conspiracy, and the little Mcann child tale.

Not only did we see the badness of our bobbies her but we also get a glimpse into what seemed to be a private prison and I wonder if we were being invited to believe that a suspected cop killer was fair game for cruel robotic female officers who could organise beatings. If that were the case all child sex offenders would never see the light of day.

Still need to ask why Aker was killed and so brutally. If this is due to she knows too much then we are surly going to have frequent killings in that group. Morriseys character does not even know about Cotton's involvement.

What other than sexual deviancy was the DCC up to?

If this does go on and while many will see inaccuracies there are very few tales that give us a real feel it is standard fare. These type of tales have to show little differences.
It seems that Scott and Bailey may be the closest series to showing police procedures. This is why the rest of the surrounding filler story lines have to be so over the top.

Going to miss [Keeley Denton] if they do continue. Yes I do know the real names. I dont think she can even return as a private investigator as we did see that she was able to compile a lot of things in a short time. Pity she did not get around to taking pictures of McClure and her regular visits to console Aker. Wonder how MR McClure found out about his missus and her bereavement technique.

Not sure about I can take sex anywhere any time Gods gift DC Compton or his oppo McClure who can shag a man who has just lost his wife but then again perhaps that is part of the deal when breaking the bad news.