Line Of Duty's Maya Sondhi got horror knife scene after asking bosses for more action

EXCLUSIVE: Line Of Duty's Maya Sondhi admits she asking bosses for more action

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Line of Duty actor Maya Sondhi has admitted it is her own fault her character was left for dead in last night's shocking opening episode – after drunkenly telling bosses she wanted "something dramatic" to happen to her on screen.

Fans were given a shock at the end of the opening episode of the fifth series when WPC Maneet Bindra was uncovered by Police unit AC-12 as an informer giving information to an Organised Crime Group who then turned on her.

After trying to win them over she was found with a bugged mobile phone and then thrown into the back of a car before her neck was slashed with a knife and her body dumped near a canal by members of the Balaclava Gang.

It was a shocking episode for desk office worker Maneet that no one saw coming, except actor Maya who first suggested the violent twist to show creator Jed Mercurio.

And she also warned viewers should "never assume anything" in terms of if Maneet is definitely dead now, despite there looking no way back for her when the credits rolled.

Maya said: "The moral of the story is never get drunk with Jed and suggest something.

"Months before he had written this series, we were at an awards do and I was sat next to Jed and I was saying I was chuffed to come back but I said 'what are we going to do with her because we have to resolve what happened with Hilton? She can't just carry on working there'.

"And he said 'we do need to do something'. So I said 'we could do something really dramatic'.

"Then when he rang me to talk about storylines he said 'you know that stuff you were talking about that was quite interesting' so we kind of colluded. I was up for doing something quite dramatic because I just thought you wouldn't expect it from Maneet because she is just basically paper pushing in the background and giving information and doing searches."

In the last series viewers saw that Maneet was initially passing on inside information to police boss, Assistant Chief Constable Derek Hilton but we learned last night(SUNDAY) it was to help her cousin who was also in the force and struggling with gambling debts he had racked up with a gang.

Her information leaks were discovered by the AC-12 anti-corruption team and after being told by Superintendant Ted Hastings she was "finished" as a policewoman a tearful Maneet then tried to continue helping the crime gang as her cousin was now being beaten up in prison and could even be killed.

However, she was caught with a bugged mobile phone and was then kidnapped, stabbed and left for dead as blood ran from her neck into the canal. But Maya insists viewers should also not assume Maneet is definitely dead and will need to watch next week for confirmation.

Writer Jed Mercurio left fans waiting weeks to discover if Keeley Hawes' character MP Julia Montague was dead in Bodyguard earlier this year and Maya added: "You never know with Jed, look what he did with Keeley in Bodyguard, the whole thing was about the Bodyguard and her and then he killed her off. Craig Parkinson's character came back in Line Of Duty before and with Jed you never ever assume anything because you never know what is going to happen. That is all I can say really.

"It was a night shoot for those scenes we did so I am not gonna lie it was pretty freezing, but the crew are so amazing and clever what they do. We had some of the guys that work on Game Of Thrones that were dealing with the blood, it is so exciting when you see the final thing and the finishing shots, you think that was worth lying around and getting cold for."

* Line of Duty continues next Sunday at 9pm on BBC1.

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