Showtrial season 2 ending explained: Did Justin kill Marcus?

But for those who have already made their way to the end of the season, or just wanted to know how it all plays out, did Justin actually kill Marcus? And what happened at the trial?

Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of Showtrial season 2.

*Warning - contains full spoilers for all five episodes of Showtrial season 2*

Did Justin kill Marcus?

Yes, he did. As Justin revealed himself to Sam at the end of episode 4, he did in fact run Marcus down with his car, in part because of his personal hatred of Marcus, and his own spiralling mental health problems, following his partner Sandra's miscarriage.

Marcus's campaign group, Stop Climate Genocide, had blocked the motorway some time previously, and Justin had attended a crash which occurred at the same time. He watched a pregnant woman die, and believed she was only on that road because of Marcus's actions.

Justin revealed the full facts of what happened to Sam towards the end of the season finale.

Justin said that he and Marcus's neighbour Patrick Norris, who also hated him, made an agreement - Justin owed Norris money from gambling, but if Justin was able to kill Marcus, his debt would be written off entirely. If he had failed in his mission, he feared for what the highly connected Norris would do to him, or his partner Sandra.

Justin knocked Marcus off his bike, took the bike and his helmet and gave them to Norris to deal with, while Sandra took the car to be fixed up abroad. Norris's wife Elena fixed up the bike and put new pedals on it in case it was ever found, to confuse matters, given that a pedal was already found at the crime scene.

Justin revealed that Norris's reason for having Marcus killed was simple – it was because he Marcus had got him fined £1,000 for ignoring a tree preservation order.

Was Justin convicted and what happened to him?

After Justin admitted to Sam that he had killed Marcus Calderwood, and Sam had also learned about Sandra's miscarriage, he got Justin to change his plea to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility.

His legal team also found out that the police knew Justin was mentally unwell, and failed to act after he missed multiple psychiatric appraisals.

The jury was sent home for two weeks, during which time Justin underwent multiple appraisals.

During this time, Felix Owusu kept digging into the case, and found out that Elena Norris had purchased a new set of bike pedals, matching the one found in the lake, the day after the hit and run.

This evidence proved crucial, as the involvement of an accomplice suggested premeditation by Justin. He was subsequently convicted of murder, in a 10-2 split verdict. He was sentenced to a minimum term of 35 years in prison.

Justin told Sam he didn't intend to serve a single year of his sentence, heavily implying he would soon take his own life.

"A day, a week, a month tops," he said. "Justin Mitchell sets his own tariff."

Did Patrick Norris face justice?

Not yet. Patrick and Elena Norris fled the country before the police could get to them, meaning that by the end of this series this plotline remained unresolved. They flew to Ecuador, with help from a known cocaine smuggler.

It's unclear how far the police could go in pursuing Norris, given that Justin refused to implicate him in Marcus's murder in any way. Justin feared that if he did so, even after he had been convicted, Norris would go after Sandra.

However, Leila stressed that DI Southgate would continue going after Norris, given that it had now become personal for him.

What happened to Sam, Leila, Felix and the other characters?

By the end of the series, Felix was charged with contempt of court for his continued reporting around the trial and accusations, and would appear at the later date. Because the police took his phone, Helen revealed the truth that she was Felix's source to Leila. She knew this would come to light, and wanted to tell her first.

Meanwhile, Leila started to reconcile her relationship with Tamara, after understanding that he grievance was not about refusing to house-sit, but instead about her repeated insistence they were half-sisters, not sisters.

Their mother Dame Harriet's health improved, and she was planning to move to Canada to take up a teaching position.

The season ended with Sam's son Mani coming to visit him, and the pair heading off together to have a beer and discuss things - suggesting that they could mend their relationship and head towards a brighter future.

Showtrial season 2 is available to stream in full now on BBC iPlayer.

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