The Tower season 2 ending explained as Gemma Whelan unpacks finale

This season of the gripping ITV drama centred on crimes against women and explored the cold case of missing teenage girl Tania Mills, as well as the domestic violence against and unfortunate tragic killing of Georgina Teel (Rosa Coduri) at the hands of her partner Mark Brannon (Charley Palmer Rothwell) in the present day.

After the third episode, the hunt was well and truly on for Mark and the young daughter he shared with Georgina, Skye. But did Lizzie manage to find them, and similarly, did Sarah manage to figure out what happened to Tania Mills all those years ago?

Well, RadioTimes.com sat down to chat about the explosive finale with lead actress Gemma Whelan, who had previously teased to us that the finale is more "twisty" than you could possibly imagine.

Read on for a full breakdown of the finale of The Tower 2: Death Message.

The Tower 2: Death Message ending explained – Who killed Tania Mills?

The finale kicks off after we've just seen that Tania Mills's body has been found in Morville Park, namely in the memorial garden planted by music teacher Adrian Stephenson (Tristan Sturrock) and girls from Tania's school in the '90s.

Sarah was convinced that would be the place to find Tania's body on account of the fact that Stephenson has never shown any interest in community work, and just so happened to plant the garden three days after Tania's disappearance.

Sarah and DC Elaine Lucas (Ella Smith) then speak to Tania's best friend at the time, Katherine Herringham (Rosalie Craig), to ask whether she knew about Stephenson's abuse of Tania. Katherine admits that Tania told her that Stephenson had "persuaded her" to play the violin naked during their private lessons.

They go to Stephenson's home to inform him about finding Tania's body and then arrest him on the suspicion of her murder.

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After rescuing Lizzie from the threat of Mark (more on that below), Sarah and Elaine go to question Stephenson's ex-wife Abigail Levy (Rebecca Calder) and find out that Abigail and Stephenson got married when she was young after meeting when she was in his youth orchestra, meaning she was likely his first victim.

The next day, Sarah and Elaine speak to Katherine again about the day of Tania's disappearance, and she's visibly teary as she recounts what Stephenson also did to her later that day. She says Stephenson drove her to a pub for lunch and got her wine, before sexually assaulting her.

But before that, Katherine explains that Tania was supposed to come round as they had plans to watch Princess Diana's funeral together, but Stephenson got to Katherine's home first, urging her to play the violin for him even though Tania was his 'star pupil'.

Tania rang the doorbell and shouted that she knew Stephenson was there because she could see his car in the driveway. Stephenson went out to quieten her and she left. Katherine then tells Sarah and Elaine that Stephenson raped her.

Although she would like Stephenson to be nailed for Tania's murder, she explains that he was with her the whole time. We then find out that the carpet that Tania's body was found in was the very same carpet from Stephenson's apartment at the time.

But Sarah is confused, because as his ex-wife Abigail doesn't like him, why would she lie for him? Elaine then finds out from public records that their marriage certificate at the time falsified Abigail's age, and she was actually 17 when they married and not 21.

They visit Abigail once again to question her about the day of Tania's murder and ask what she was doing in their apartment when Tania came round to visit. Abigail explains that she slowly realised Tania was being abused by Stephenson and, overcome with anger, she shoved her down the stairs.

She left Tania's body there and carried on drinking wine before passing out. When she woke up, Stephenson told her that he "saved" her by wrapping up the body and getting rid of it.

So, Abigail killed Tania? Well, the pathologist later tells Sarah that Tania's cause of death is hard to determine, but that her hyoid bone was broken, suggesting she had been strangled. Sarah and her team then go to arrest Stephenson, where Sarah confronts him about his actions and continued abuse of young women.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com about that finale twist, in which Abigail thinks she was the murderer when, actually, it was her ex-husband Stephenson all along, Whelan admits: "I thought there were enough twists already, and then the final twist was like, 'Oh, this is brilliant, and so believable.'"

She continued: "Sometimes people sort of use twists in order to be interesting and it’s not believable, but this is a twist that’s so interesting, and also so believable. It’s so rooted in the character’s truth and what they might do.

"This poor woman has been living with the belief for the past 20 years that she was responsible for this poor girl’s death. It was just so exciting to read that twist and then to twist it further… to be part of that storytelling is just lovely."

Although Stephenson was a respected musician and ready to board a flight to leave London because he knew the police were on to him, the finale shows that justice was eventually done in this case.

But what does that final confrontation between Sarah and Stephenson also show? Whelan says: "I suppose it’s really representative of the false idea that a man can be infallible and untouchable, that they’re so powerful and so well respected."

She explains: "As a viewer, you watch that scene and go, 'I love that you think you’re untouchable and you’re not, you’re going down.' But that he still believes that – it’s just a brilliant representation of people's twisted ideas of what their own truth is and what they believe their standing in the community is. It’s exciting to see that represented as well."

What happened to Lizzie in the finale of The Tower 2: Death Message?

In parallel to Tania's murder case, we also have the gripping domestic violence case that Lizzie has been investigating, with things getting all too close for comfort.

At the end of episode 3, we saw that Mark had broken into Lizzie's home with daughter Skye and made himself comfortable as he waited for Lizzie to come home. But she spent the night with Kieran (Emmett J Scanlan) so was only en route the next morning.

Looking back at CCTV footage of the police station on the day that Mark confronted Lizzie in the car park, PC Arif Johar (Michael Karim) and Steve (Jimmy Akingbola) notice that he was close to Lizzie's car, and we then see that he's actually put a tracking device on it so knows exactly where she is.

Steve alerts Sarah to the fact and, as she's close to Lizzie's home, she drives there trying to call Lizzie at the same time. Lizzie picks up eventually and Sarah tells Lizzie that Mark knows where she lives. But she continues to go into her back yard and spots Skye in the window, looking scared.

Lizzie tries to help Skye out of the window but Mark comes in behind her, shouting at her to get down - and when she doesn't, he stabs her dog.

Lizzie tries to plead with Mark and he allows her to come into the house so that Lizzie can get to Skye. But Mark and Lizzie get into a fight, with Lizzie stabbing Mark with scissors she concealed in her pocket and running upstairs.

Mark chases after her, stabbing her in the side before Sarah comes in and uses her baton to hit Mark off of Lizzie. The police and ambulances arrive, with Lizzie being rushed to hospital. Skye is reunited with her grandmother Cathy (Tamzin Outhwaite), who later visits Lizzie in hospital to thank her for saving Skye.

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Talking about having the second season centre these stories about crimes against women, Whelan told RadioTimes.com that getting to showcase these tales "felt great".

She said: "I don’t know what it is about Kate London’s books and Patrick’s [Harbinson] writing, but they seem to really capture the zeitgeist.

"First series it was the trustworthiness of the police, the accountability and trustworthiness of the police force, and that was really representative of what was going on in the news. This series is representative of the ongoing zeitgeist and it’s nice to be part of something that feels current.

"It’s great to be part of that representation of these stories about women and the crimes against women. Over lockdown, the terrible domestic violence that was far more front and centre, even though we know it goes on. The movement is slow and there’s much to do, but it’s nice to be seen to represent that somehow."

At the end of the episode, Kieran visits Lizzie in hospital again and Lizzie tells him that the doctors informed her parents of something when things weren't looking good. She tells him that she's pregnant, but before he has a chance to react, his wife Mary (Laurie Delaney) comes in to take him home.

The episode ends with Sarah visiting Lizzie in hospital, referring to what she did as "incredibly brave", but that systems are in place for a reason. Even so, Lizzie says she'll act in the same way if the situation should arise again.

For support and advice on matters raised in this article, please visit www.rapecrisis.org.uk, call the 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line on 0808 500 2222 or chat to Rape Crisis online 247sexualabusesupport.org.uk.

Watch the first two seasons of The Tower on ITVX. Season 3 of The Tower is currently in production.

While you're waiting, take a look at our other Drama coverage, or find out what else is on with our TV Guide.

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