Dead and Buried ending explained: BBC drama's wild finale unpacked

The show, which is based on stage play Bag for Life, follows a woman who becomes obsessed with her brother's murderer after discovering he has been released from prison.

Michael (Colin Morgan) served his sentence and built a new life for himself, starting a family and a career working for his father-in-law.

That only makes Cathy (Annabel Scholey) more angry, however, and she becomes intent on destroying his life as revenge for his past crime.

Her actions have dire and escalating consequences over the course of the series, with a new body discovered in the finale – that of her closest friend, Sally (Kerri Quinn).

But who is responsible? Read on for our spoiler-filled guide to the Dead and Buried ending.

Dead and Buried ending explained: Who killed Sally?

Dead and Buried's penultimate episode ended on a grim note as a mystery assailant crept into Sally's hospital room and smothered her in the dead of night.

She had been physically assaulted earlier that week, after mistakenly being blamed for Cathy's pursuit of Michael by his well-connected father-in-law, Jack.

Dead and Buried screenwriter Colin Bateman does an excellent job keeping things ambiguous, leaving us in doubt over Sally's true killer as we head into the final chapter.

Could it be Cathy, in a desperate bid to frame Michael? Or Michael, in an attempt to protect his son from similar accusations to those that ruined his own life? Or perhaps, someone else entirely?

In Dead and Buried episode 4, we learn the truth: Michael and Cathy were both innocent, as it was Jack's pawn Detective Cooper (Declan Rodgers) who killed Sally in Dead and Buried.

Alas, that doesn't prevent a harrowing ending for everyone else in the show.

Michael is increasingly suspicious that his son, Andrew (Micheal Hanna), is the one who assaulted Sally initially, after the teenager's phone was found near his home.

Fearing that history would repeat itself and another McAllister would end up behind bars for a violent crime, he sought to make contact with a recovering Sally to beg her not to identify his son.

Unfortunately, Detective Cooper got to her first.

He was pressured into attacking Sally by Jack, who believed she was having an affair with Michael, but during the struggle his face covering slipped.

After she regained consciousness, he knew it was only a matter of time until Sally identified him and resorted to murder to prevent her from doing so.

He reveals this to Jack in one of the final scenes, with the two of them destined to be the only ones aware of Sally's true killer.

Following weeks of devious scheming by Cathy to destroy his reputation, Michael is all but guaranteed to take the fall for the crime. He even accepts this fate in his final moments.

After discovering Cathy's true identity via social media, he turns up at her house and confronts her for intervening in his once peaceful and prosperous life.

Initially, he attempts to convince her that he is a reformed man, but realising that she won't rest until Sally's killer is found – and still believing his son to be responsible – he takes the blame.

Moments later, he slashes his own throat and begins to bleed out in Cathy's kitchen. Her reaction is disturbing, with excitement and glee being the most prominent emotion on display, reflecting how far she has fallen.

An undefined amount of time later, Michael still hasn't died and Cathy still hasn't alerted anyone to what has taken place. He grasps her leg in what appears to be a final plea for mercy, but she proceeds to suffocate him with a plastic bag.

It's at this moment that her husband, Raymie (Waj Ali), comes down the stairs to catch his wife literally red-handed.

Although we don't see exactly what occurs next, it is implied that Raymie chooses to be complicit in this murder; perhaps after being told a fake story by chronic liar Cathy about what led to that fateful moment.

The couple hide Michael's body in their garden shed, eerily echoing comments previously made by Cathy's therapist. Having burned all bridges with his loved ones, it's possible that Michael won't be reported missing for a very long time.

However, one telling moment in the concluding montage shows Andrew searching for Cathy on social media, suggesting that he wants to know more about the trauma that has struck his family.

And if he discovers that his father's former mistress is married to his school teacher... that could be hard for anyone to talk their way out of, even a seasoned deceiver like Cathy.

It's important we note here that there has been no indication from the BBC or co-producer Virgin Media that Dead and Buried will be back for a second season. But there's certainly ground to cover if Bateman did decide to expand on his original story.

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Dead and Buried is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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