Shardlake ending explained: Who killed Robin Singleton?

Shardlake is sent along with another of Cromwell's men, Jack Barak, but the pair also have another agenda set by him – they must find reason to close the monastery, starting the dissolution of the institutions as part of King Henry VIII's religious reforms.

Throughout the series, the bodies start to pile up and the case become ever more knotty and more complex. But who did commit each of the murders, what was their motivation, and how did things end for some of the central characters?

Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of Shardlake.

*Warning - contains full spoilers for all four episodes of Shardlake*

Shardlake ending explained: Who killed Orphan Stonegarden, Simon Whelplay and Brother Gabriel?

In the final episode, Shardlake deduced and revealed that Brother Edwig was in fact behind the majority of the murders and crimes which took place throughout the season.

Edwig's initial crime was to kill Orphan Stonegarden some time ago. She was a girl at the monastery who had refused to succumb to his sexual advances. Edwig later admitted that she was a temptation he could not resist, so he killed her and threw her body in the waters outside the monastery.

Shardlake and Jack had only discovered this murder because they also found the sword which was used to murder Robin Singleton in the same waters.

After Shardlake and Jack arrived and started investigating, Edwig had then poisoned Simon Whelplay, who had been close with the orphan and who had watched for her – he had witnessed the disposal of her body and Edwig had seen him as a threat, with the potential to reveal his crimes.

Finally, Edwig had murdered Brother Gabriel, when he came to believe would also be able to reveal his secrets. In truth, he would not have been – he didn't know the truth, as Edwig had come to assume.

Did the monastery close?

It did, but not because of any of the murders. In fact, the monastery closed because Shardlake found that, after he murdered Orphan Stonegarden, Brother Edwig had been selling off land belonging to the monastery, and hoarding the taxes which would have been paid upon these sales.

This meant hundreds of pounds were being siphoned from the crown and into Edwig's pockets. Edwig essentially confessed to his crimes, shouting that the monastery had abandoned its church and its God in order to follow King Henry VIII, who he called a liar and an adulterer.

He then made his escape, running from the clutches of his fellow monks.

Who killed Robin Singleton?

After revealing the truth about Brother Edwig, there was still one more mystery to uncover - just who it was that killed Robin Singleton, whose murder was the reason Shardlake and Jack came to St Donatus in the first place.

Shardlake revealed the answer to this mystery privately, solely in the company of Alice and Jack. He revealed that it was actually Alice who had killed Singleton.

Alice was the cousin and the betrothed of Mark Smeaton, the man accused of and executed for having an adulterous relationship with Anne Boleyn.

Cromwell essentially admitted (although shrouds his language in hypotheticals), that Singleton had been the one to choose Mark Smeaton to take this fall, seeing him as a prime candidate to be falsely accused of having an affair with Anne, and giving Henry a reason to have her killed and to re-marry.

Following this, Smeaton was forced to make a false confession, which led to both his own and Anne Boleyn's execution. As vengeance for her beloved's murder, Alice had killed Singleton using a Smeaton his family sword, one made by Mark's father John.

This news devastated Jack, who had begun a relationship with Alice and had planned to marry her. Shardlake admitted that her punishment is likely to be unjust after what happened to Mark, but still determined that they needed to take her to London to stand trial.

What happened to Alice, Edwig and Jack?

After she confessed her crime to Shardlake and Jack, Jack offered to guard Alice's room for the night – knowing that there is a secret passageway concealed within, which she could use to escape. She got away, and is last seen awaiting a boat which is arriving to the shore.

As she was escaping, Shardlake was attacked as he slept by Edwig. He managed to beat Edwig in combat and killed him.

As they prepare to leave St Donatus for good, Shardlake told Jack that he would report back to Cromwell that Alice died while attempting to escape, and her body had been lost. Jack thanked him for letting her go.

Shardlake also revealed that he knows about Jack's crime – killing Doctor Goodhap, somewhat accidentally, as the two scuffled in episode 2. Shardlake knew that Jack was trying to stop him from leaving and reporting their failure to Cromwell.

He also revealed that the body was disposed of by the monks after they found it and panicked, meaning he could pin the blame for this death on Edwig, and Jack would not be punished. The duo rode off, back towards London.

In a final scene, one last reveal is made – the monastery's missing relic, the withered hand of the penitent thief said to have been crucified with Jesus, had in fact been stowed away by Brother Jerome, who wanted to make sure that Cromwell would never get sight of it. It had nothing to do with any of the deaths, and Jerome had simply used the chaos as a cover.

Shardlake premieres on Disney Plus on Wednesday 1st May. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.

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