Superintendent Ted Hastings, played by Adrian Dunbar, has become famed for his one-liners throughout the six seasons of Line of Duty, and Sunday night provided one of the most popular yet.
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 wild.
Fans took to Twitter to share their reactions, with one writing: “Line of the decade #LineofDuty #ac12 #hastings.”
Another said: “Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey.. what an absolute belter of a quote.”
Someone else added: “Bet no one had that on their bingo card.’
Another fan tweeted: “Absolute cracker of line, Hastings is a gift that keeps on giving #LineofDuty #Hastings”.
Other popular lines Hastings is known for include “Mother of god”, “Now we’re cooking with gas” and “my officers conduct themselves to the letter of the law, sir, the letter”.
The penultimate episode of season six aired on Sunday evening and became the show’s most-watched episode ever.
It recorded an average of 11 million viewers and 51.7 per cent of the audience share, according to the broadcaster.
The final episode of season six is scheduled to air next Sunday, May 2, at 9pm on BBC One.