Is Marcus Thurwell in Line of Duty alive? Why fans are speculating that James Nesbitt’s character isn’t dead

**Article contains spoilers**

Line of Duty fans were treated to another gripping episode on Sunday night, as AC-12 looked to get closer than ever to finding out the mystery behind the OCG and person ‘H’.

The finale of the episode saw Spanish police conduct a raid to infiltrate Marcus Thurwell’s (James Nesbitt) last known address in Spain. The raid ended with two bodies being found dead at the premises.

However, some fans are speculating that this is another decoy from writer Jed Mercurio, and that Marcus Thurwell may still be alive.

Who is Marcus Thurwell?

In episode five of Line of Duty, Marcus Thurwell was revealed to be a former police detective, and a crucial officer in AC-12’s case of exposing a ring of corrupt high ranking police officers and their collusion with organised crime.

It was revealed that Thurwell was the Senior Investigating Officer in the Oliver Stephens-Lloyd case - an investigation into child sexual abuse at Sands View Boys Home.

The Sands View Boys Home case was featured heavily in season three of the series.

Oliver Stephens-Lloyd was a social worker, who came forward to report the crimes committed at the boys home, however he was later found dead. His death was ruled as suicide, but AC-12 believe it could have been murder.

Thurwell was also mentioned in relation to the 2003 case of Lawrence Christopher. The case involved Christopher being brutally attacked by racist thugs, and later dying in police custody at the hands of police officers.

Marcus Thurwell was the Senior Investigating Officer on both these cases. It was revealed that investigative journalist Gail Vella was digging into the cases to expose police collusion with organised crime.

Gail Vella was eventually murdered, possibly to keep her silence on what she may have discovered.

Thurwell also has connections with DCI Ian Buckells and former senior officer Patrick Fairbank. Both officers were arrested for crimes associated with the OCG.

Finally, the former police detective also worked with newly appointed Chief Constable Philip Osbourne.

What happened to Marcus Thurwell in episode six?

In the closing minutes of episode six, AC-12 watched a video link with Spanish police officers conducting a raid at Thurwell’s last known whereabouts.

However, the police officers found two corpses seen in the grainy green and black night vision footage. The bodies were identified by the Spanish police officers on the scene as ’Mr and Mrs Thurwell’.

Why do fans think Marcus Thurwell isn’t dead?

Immediately after the episode aired, eagle-eyed viewers began sharing screen grabs from the episode, pointing to possible evidence confirming Marcus Thurwell is still alive.

Viewers believe that Thurwell was in fact one of the officers who conducted the raid on his premises.

Using a screengrab of Thurwell’s headshot on the AC-12 database, and an image of the Spanish police officer speaking to AC-12 during the raid, some viewers were certain it was more than a passing resemblance.