Protection ending explained: What happened in twisted cop thriller?

When her married lover and two people under her care in witness protection are killed ahead of the court case of drug baron Eddie Crowther (Alec Newman), her somewhat simple life is upended with corruption being revealed all the way up to British Intelligence.

With DI Wheatley (Katherine Kelly) breathing down her neck and almost certain Liz is involved in the confidentiality breach, Liz had to come to the realisation quickly that her lover, Brandice (Barry Ward), may have had something to do with it.

But not knowing who to trust makes things more difficult for Liz, with her actions making her look even more guilty as she takes on her own investigation in the shadows of Wheatley’s, with at times near-disastrous results.

Here’s how the story came to its gripping conclusion…

Protection ending explained

Liz starts the series finale at a loss. With her affair with Brandice now out in the open, and Wheatley convinced she’s a corrupt cop, Liz’s partner Kohli delivers the news that Crowther, the heroin kingpin who was about to come clean to her, was found hanged in his cell. Neither believe he killed himself, and knows he’s been murdered.

Desperate for answers, Liz breaks into Brandice’s house in order to find proof that Intelligence officer Nigel Frankton, who was friends with Brandice during their Special Forces days, is behind it all.

Instead, she finds divorce papers that Brandice had signed, but his wife Gemma hadn’t. He was planning to leave her for Liz after all, and had left a clue for her should something go wrong – a photo of a portrait hung on her wall.

However, their search is disrupted when daughter Jasmine calls to say that Liz’s dementia-confused dad had gone missing. They find him injured in his old house after falling on the floor. Suspecting he’s broken his hip, Jas calls 999. While they wait, Liz admits she became an officer to make him proud.

Liz checks the photo Brandice took a picture of, and finds a thumb drive stuck to the back of it. Unable to access the file on her phone, she leaves Jas and her dad and heads to find answers.

Reaching out to one of Crowther’s witnesses, she begs for help and is led to someone from Kurdistan, who previously worked with Crowther, trading drugs for firearms from the UK before ending the connection.

As she leaves, she spots a BMW and believes she’s being tracked, calling Kohli, but her phone calls are being bugged.

When he comes to pick her up, she is held at gunpoint by a man she recognises as the man who killed Paul Brandice. She realises Kelman, the head of the Corruption Investigation Unit, had given them access to her phone.

Taken to the woods, Liz is told to hand over the drive. Kohli tries to take him, but is shot in the process, but gives time for Liz to get away.

Liz receives a video message of her father in hospital, and gets a call from Frankton warning her to play ball or suffer the consequences. She heads to the McLellan house as instructed, she and Frankton finally come face-to-face.

Who was behind the murders and why?

Frankton confirms he was the mastermind behind everything that Crowther was accused of, using the dodgy kingpin’s heroin smuggling empire as a front of his own to deal in arms trafficking. As such, nearly everything traces back to Crowther, whether he’s guilty of it or not, with the thumbdrive containing encrypted information about his inventory, so he needs it back.

Liz and Frankton get in a fight, but Wheatley then breaks into the house with a team of armed officers, arresting Frankton as well as Liz for 'breaking her bail conditions'.

While Wheatley later lets Liz go, she folds when confronted about the truth of what happened, saying it scares her if true due to how high up it gets, so refuses to believe it.

Kelman later speaks to Liz in the car park, arguing she was simply passing information on by a senior British Intelligence officer when they requested it, but didn’t know the extent of what went on. She says that Brandice was likely brought on board by his old Army friend under the belief he was helping Intelligence, and not anything illegal.

Liz wants to speak out, but Kelman says that it would not benefit the national interest by exposing Frankton’s crimes, especially as he covered his tracks so much it all leads back to Crowther. If she does, she has no proof, and the higher-ups will sweep it under the rug and bury her accusations in the process.

What happens next?

Liz attends Brandice’s funeral, with Kohli, thankfully alive, joining her. He informs her he’s been given six months' leave and a promotion in exchange for his silence. He tells Liz he’s agreed, as a family man who needs a fresh start.

DI Rick Bewley later tells Liz that Brandice had all the information he needed before they started sleeping together, telling her that she deserved to know the truth, and that their romance wasn’t a lie after all. Heading to his gravesite, she bids her own farewell.

Jas calls her mum, who asks her if she believes in fresh starts. Liz is hopeful for a new beginning, and in the final moments, she makes her goodbyes to Brandice at his gravesite before heading home.

Protection is available now as a box set on ITVX.

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