Murder Is Easy ending explained: Who was the killer?

The two episodes follow Luke Fitzwilliam (David Jonsson) as he takes it upon himself to investigate a string of mysterious deaths in Wychwood under Ashe, after being notified of them by kind stranger, Miss Pinkerton (Penelope Wilton).

Met with suspicion himself, he ventures into the village to uncover the murderer but finds out more about the villagers and power dynamics at play instead. Joined by Bridget (Morfydd Clark), the pair start to think of motives, circumstances and explanations for each of the murders, which are growing by the day.

But how did the two-part series end and who actually was the killer at the heart of Murder Is Easy? Read on to find out.

Murder Is Easy ending explained

The final second episode picks up after the funeral of Reverend Humbleby (Mark Bonnar), and the residents of Wychwood are even more confused as to who the murderer could be after the Reverend dropped dead during tennis.

Fitzwilliam takes it upon himself to underline the fact that Dr Thomas (Mathew Baynton) has been attending to every murder victim and tells the Reverend's wife, Mrs Humbleby (Nimra Busha) and daughter Rose (Phoebe Licorish). Although Rose is infatuated with the doctor and has plans to marry him, Fitzwilliam reminds her that her father wasn't keen on the doctor.

Fitzwilliam tells the women the truth about Dr Thomas's immoral medical practices and belief in eugenics, which leads to Rose confronting the doctor and storming out of his surgery.

The autopsy hearing then continues in the village hall, with Rivers (Jon Pointing) underlining the fact that nobody is looking into the deaths of the poorer residents, and that Lord Whitfield's (Tom Riley) new development isn't going to do any better for them.

As Fitzwilliam and Bridget (Morfydd Clark) start deliberating about the murderer and get to know each other more, they're interrupted by a scream and, along with the other villagers, find Rivers dead.

Lord Whitfield is throwing another lavish party the day after, with villagers from all over coming to either socialise or work at the event. Fitzwilliam starts looking around the house and later finds Rose and her mother, who are being interrupted by Dr Thomas. He tells Rose he is wearing the scarf she bought him, but upon Fitzwilliam sitting down, is forced to leave the women alone.

Fitzwilliam slinks out of the party to break into the doctor's office and Bridget follows him, but before she has the chance to tell him something, they are interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. When hiding, the pair share a kiss but then later find a cheque book for Dr Thomas from the Whitfield New Town account, leading Fitz to consider Whitfield's embezzlement as a motive for murder.

Walking back to the house, Fitz finds a broken heel in the ground where Rivers was killed, leading him to suspect a woman and one that would be able to drive, as they would have to to have killed Miss Pinkerton in the hit and run. Lord Whitfield later presents Bridget with an extravagant ring in front of the party but Dr Thomas halts proceedings when he falls down the stairs and is pronounced dead.

Fitz starts suspecting Lord Whitfield after Major Horton (Douglas Henshall) reveals that he was told that it was Whitfield's Rolls Royce that killed Miss Pinkerton in London. When Fitz goes to look inside the boot of the car, he finds a pair of women's shoes, one with a broken heel, but we only see it after he leaves and Bridget looks in the boot afterwards.

The next day, Fitz ventures to Whitfield's home for breakfast and the pair get chatting, with Whitfield revealing more about his true personality and his past with Honoria Waynflete (Sinead Matthews) when the pair were younger. But interestingly, Whitfield talks about "not having control" over the village deaths and gives Fitz a "friendly warning" about those who cross him.

Bridget hears it all and is shocked at his change in personality, with Fitz stating he'll get her out of there. She goes into the local village pub and rallies a group of women who return to the house with Fitz. They start cleaning in the same room as Fitz and Whitfield, with Whitfield talking through all the murder victims.

The ladies pin him to the ground and the police soon come, confused at what is going on. At the same time, Bridget pays a visit to Honoria to ask her about her past relationship with Whitfield. Honoria reveals that Whitfield killed her pet canary and says that he had a certain look on his face when doing it years earlier.

The police then get word from Scotland Yard that it was indeed Lord Whitfield's car that was spotted at the scene of Miss Pinkerton's death and that his registration number was reported by a witness but never followed up. Whitfield is confused and pleads his innocence when a note comes from Bridget telling Whitfield to meet her in the woods. Fitz knows she didn't write it and stumbles upon the knife case that previously had Honoria's present inside.

It's now empty and Whitfield says that Honoria came by to pick it up for cleaning.

Who was the Wychwood under Ashe killer?

As Fitz's mind starts to whir about whether Bridget is alright, she accepts a cup of tea from Honoria. As she drinks it, she sees Honoria's cat is still suffering with an infected ear.

As she thinks, she remembers that the Reverend has a splinter which Honoria had dabbed some medicine on. But it's not long before Bridget starts feeling faint and Honoria says they should go for a walk before supper.

Once outside in her leather gloves, Honoria starts confessing about how she's not a "woman scorned". She reveals that she was on course for Cambridge but was betrayed by Whitfield who told her secret to her father. "They locked her up like a prisoner," he tells Fitz at the same time.

Whitfield also tells Fitz that actually, it was Honoria that crushed her own bird and not the other way round. Honoria is telling Bridget that Whitfield had taken her home and her life away from her, turning her into a nobody. So, she decided to frame him for a string of murders in the hopes that he will be sent to prison.

Fitz manages to make it there in time before Honoria stabs Bridget with the knife and more is revealed about her plot. We learn that Honoria had used the fluid from her cat's ear to infect the iodine on the reverend's dressing. She also poisoned his drink at the tennis with rat poison.

She pushed Tommy from the ledge, pulled the lever of the water mill to drown Carter and broke into Amy's bedroom to swap her medicine bottles. With Dr Thomas, she used hemlock (which she grows in her garden) to spray onto his scarf and then planted the cheque book in the surgery for Fitz and Bridget to find to accuse Whitfield.

She hit Rivers over the head with the branch and then planted her broken shoes in Whitfield's car. Previously, Honoria reveals, she poisoned Major Horton's wife with arsenic. She followed Miss Pinkerton to London and pushed her in the road when a car was coming, telling the police the registration number of Whitfield's Rolls Royce when he was never there.

Honoria is arrested and days after, Bridget and Fitz part ways. Bridget says that Fitz can't stay in the village as he'd be lost but she looks ahead to the future, now single and excited for what's to come. The last we see of Fitz is him visiting Miss Pinkerton's grave and then onboard a ship, presumably returning to Nigeria.

Agatha Christie's Murder Is Easy began on BBC One on Wednesday 27th December at 9pm, with both episodes available on BBC iPlayer from 6am. 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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