Unforgotten season 4, episode 5 delivers shock ending – will Cassie survive?

The episode ended with a sudden car crash, and we're going to have to wait until episode six before we find out what happened to the character in question: beloved cold case cop DCI Cassie Stewart (played by Nicola Walker in the Unforgotten cast).

But what exactly happened in the episode, and how did Cassie get into the car crash?

Will Cassie survive the car crash?

Right at the end of episode five, a "knackered" Cassie leaves the police mortuary in her car, intending to drive home in the dark - but in the final seconds, another car collides with her.

It's a shocking moment, and perhaps one we could have seen coming - the scripts have made the point of highlighting how distracted and tired Cassie has been all season.

At the start of episode five, an exhausted Cassie has been powering on despite recent setbacks to the case. As she tells her partner, John: "I have to see this case through now."

However, in her personal life things have been going all wrong, particularly in regards to her dad, Martin (played by Peter Egan), who has early onset dementia. He's changed his will and intends to leave his half of the house to his new girlfriend - something that enrages Cassie.

But (as John points out) is she less angry about the house, and more angry at the prospect of losing her father to dementia?

By the end of the day, the investigation has come along leaps and bounds. As DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) tells her: "Hey boss. We're getting there."

She tries to get in touch with dad Martin over the phone, leaving him voicemails. She's distracted and checking her phone for missed calls from him when she's driving home, and the second car crashes into her.

Has Cassie survived the crash? And was it a complete accident - or could one of the Unforgotten suspects be behind it?

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Unforgotten episode 5 recap: What happened?

It's hard not to focus on the final, cliffhanger moment of episode five, but the rest of the episode was also jam-packed with revelations and incidents.

It turns out that victim Matthew Walsh was stabbed with a fountain pen, meaning his death was definitely murder - and that the pen's buyer might be traceable.

Meanwhile both Fiona Grayson (Liz White) and DCC Liz Baildon (Susan Lynch) are brought into the police station for further questioning, and (just as Cassie and Sunny predicted), the increasingly erratic Fiona is the first to crack. She says she had no idea Walsh had been stabbed, believing his death was an accident.

Liz is always calm as a cucumber in the interrogation room, but outside it, things are beginning to unravel: she's withdrawn her application for the top job in the Cambridgeshire police force, and she threatens to smother her bed-bound, elderly mum.

Meanwhile the investigation is slowly closing in on Ram, while for Dean, the past comes back to haunt him - it's revealed his birth name was Dean 'Quinn' and that he was brought up in a family of career criminals.

Unforgotten season four concludes next Monday on ITV at 9pm. Visit our TV Guide or find all the latest news on our Drama hub.