Douglas Is Cancelled ending explained: What was Douglas's comment?

The series puts newsreader Douglas Bellows (Hugh Bonneville) centre stage as he comes under fire for comments made at a family member's wedding.

As the episodes progress, we see that it's time for damage control as his wife Sheila (Alex Kingston) and producer Toby (Ben Miles) try to weather the social media storm.

But in anticipation of his Hay Festival appearance, his team rally round him to do a mock interview with his co-anchor Madeline (Karen Gillan) asking the questions. Not all is quite as it seems in this scenario, though, as some home truths are delivered.

For those eager viewers among us (or simply those who want to know how things pan out), read on for a full breakdown of the ending of Douglas Is Cancelled.

Douglas Is Cancelled ending explained: What was Douglas's comment?

It's the question that has hung like a dark cloud over the entire series – just what did Douglas say at his cousin's wedding?

After a faceless Twitter account tweets the allegation, all eyes are on Douglas and Live At Six to see how they'll cope with the impending social media storm brewing against the beloved newsreader.

The final episode opens with the anticipated Hay Festival and the empty tent in which Douglas is expected to do his interview.

There, his agent Bently Cassock (Simon Russell Beale) and producer Toby are nervous and waiting for things to start. They discuss whether it's likely there will be a change of interviewer, and Toby seems sure of the fact that the "clip" will be played in full.

We then flash back to one week prior, once again to the TV studio where the mock interview is set to take place between Douglas and Madeline. This time around, though, we get a look at how the start of the interview plays out from behind the glass as Sheila watches on.

Although Madeline covers her microphone to not be heard from inside the studio, Sheila hears what she says and alerts Toby - but it's too late, as Madeline continues on with the interview. Douglas is distressed after Madeline accuses him of saying comments about her, calling Toby into the filming studio.

But Madeline says she's simply in the role of the interviewer, and has spent the night preparing for every worst-case scenario possible, trying to prepare Douglas for what to say on stage.

As they get into the interview, Madeline says that the comments Douglas made should be described as a "story", a choice of phrase that Douglas then comes to regret, and he then says he doesn't remember.

Madeline then comes with evidence of quotes made by Douglas in various previous interviews of him alluding to his first meeting with his co-presenter, which also happens to resemble the account given by someone at the wedding party in question.

In among the fiery line of questioning, Madeline takes a break and in walks Claudia (Madeleine Power), who says that Madeline invited her to watch her father's mock interview.

It's a move that Sheila doesn't appreciate and she confronts Madeline in the bathroom, also asking whether or not she's sleeping with Douglas, which Madeline denies.

Back in the studio, Madeline is back in her interviewing persona of Kirsty Wark, and asks whether she's happy for Douglas to post a callout for videos of the wedding to Twitter users. She encourages Douglas to retweet her callout, and in explaining his reasoning for doing so, Douglas slips up and speaks of the "story" he was telling at the party.

Although there isn't any internet reception in the studio, Douglas's WiFi does work down there, and so his tweet is released to the internet and is quickly retweeted by everyone. Confronted by Madeline about what the sexist story about his co-worker was, Douglas snaps.

Douglas reveals that when people ask him when he first knew Madeline was going to be such a big star, he says: "When I found you in my boss's hotel room."

He says it's just a joke, "a line", and snaps at Toby, who tries to calm down whatever is going to be said, clearly fearing it will incriminate him further.

Claudia is visibly upset as Douglas confronts Madeline about her behaviour with Toby before getting the job. Madeline says she doesn't want that story out there in the public, but Douglas is angry as he says he's "not remotely" like Toby.

Madeline says there are lots of men not like Toby but that if there were so many of them, where are they? She angrily confronts Douglas about the fact that he turned and walked away, instead thinking of jokes he can spin about the situation rather than helping her when she needed it most in that hotel room.

"If you were raped, phone the police. If you slept with someone to get a job and now you're feeling bad about it, phone your mum or your best friend or someone who can give a s**t long enough to listen - but first, explain to me why this was my fault," Douglas says.

But when pressed about how he would've even known that Madeline and Toby had slept together, Douglas says that he could tell by the look on Madeline's face at the time, admitting that she looked terrified.

What happened to Madeline in Toby's hotel room?

At the end of the episode, we get a flashback to the night in question, when Toby invited Madeline to his hotel room for a job interview. We go back to the scene where Douglas finds Madeline at the door and notices the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the handle.

As he walks away, he turns back and wishes her the best of luck, saying that's it's worth it. He says: "Whatever s**t you have to wade through, it really is worth it."

If you remember from the first episode, it's a statement that Madeline told Kate Garraway about in an interview when asked whether Douglas had given her any advice for her career.

When she gets back into the room, Madeline finishes her wine and picks up the contracts to go into the bathroom where Toby is having a bath. Bringing in his glass of wine, she walks over and pours it into the bath, also throwing the papers into the bathtub.

She then starts taking pictures of a naked Toby in the bathtub on her phone, saying that she was never going to sleep with him and that she'd love the job.

What happens to Madeline at the end of Douglas Is Cancelled?

After the flashback, we're then transported to the Hay Festival, where it is actually Madeline who is up on stage being interviewed by Kirsty Wark, and not Douglas.

In her introduction, it's revealed that Madeline has taken over as lead presenter on Live At Six from Douglas, who resigned after a mobile phone video went viral on social media.

When asked about whether she'd like to comment on that, Madeline declines, and Kirsty presses her on why her role appointment is so important for women everywhere.

Then, the anticipated video is played, and rather than being the expected wedding party video, it's actually the video that was shot by the sound technician in the studio on the day of the mock interview.

The camera pans from Bently to Douglas and Claudia having their heated exchange about why jokes are needed and why a person like Morgan (Nick Mohammed) has been hired in the first place.

"Between you and me, our audience wouldn't understand the truth even if we had the guts to tell it or knew what it was in the first place," Douglas says, which, when shown on video at the Hay Festival, the audience can't mask their shock.

As the video finishes up, Madeline looks plain-faced and slightly teary as she looks down.

Although the video wasn't of something a lot more incriminating, ie Douglas's confrontation with Toby about what really happened in the hotel room or his wedding party comments, his angry admission about the Live At Six audience was clearly enough to set social media alight on their own and lead to his own cancellation.

Douglas Is Cancelled will continue airing on ITV1 on Thursday 4th July, with all episodes available to stream on ITVX now.

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