Line of Duty's Maya Sondhi: I convinced creator Jed Mercurio to kill Maneet off
"Yeah, not many actresses ask to die!" the star of series five said
Line of Duty fan favourite Maneet Bindra became the latest victim of serial character killer Jed Mercurio in series five – except this time, it wasn't the writer's idea to kill her off.
Maya Sondhi, the actress who played the unfortunate AC-12 police officer, said that in fact she was the one who suggested that Maneet should die.
Speaking at the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival 2019, the actress said that she told writer Mercurio that in order to wrap up the series four storyline – which saw her feed info on her fellow AC-12 officers to corrupt copper ACC Hilton – he needed to do something drastic.
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"Jed rang me before the scripts were coming out," she said, when asked by host Mark Lawson when she knew her time on the show was coming to an end. "But before that I had also suggested to him: 'Why don't you kill me?" And he went, 'Really?'
"Yeah, not many actresses ask to die!" she joked.
Sondhi said she was particularly happy with how she went out: in a blaze of glory, attempting to take on the organised crime group from the inside, before being murdered at the docks.
"I think it was so unexpected; Jed said you'll have lots to do in the first episode and it'll be great. And actually, even though I love the show and everything, what a way to go," she told the audience. "I would much rather have gone like that than just sort of been hanging around being dodgy in the background."
However, just like Mercurio's other hit series Bodyguard, there have already been theories flying that Maneet may not be as dead as she appears.
Actress Sondhi was quick to pour cold water on the rumours – even if, as everyone knows, it's dangerous to second guess Mercurio's true intentions.
"Hmm, not sure how many people get their throats slit and survive," she said. "But, you know, it is Jed..."
Line of Duty series five continues on Sundays at 9pm on BBC1
