Inside Man, created by Steven Moffat, stars David Tennant, Stanley Tucci, Dolly Wells, and Lydia West of It’s A Sin. From the moment it premiered, the show hooked audiences with its complex storyline, involving an American prisoner on death row, a vicar in a quiet English village, his son’s maths tutor, and a rising journalist.
However, reactions to the finale were split after the last episode aired. Some viewers praised the conclusion, calling it “brilliant” and thrilling to watch. Others, though, were left with many unanswered questions, wondering what exactly transpired in the final moments.
A chilling plan set in motion in the quiet of an English village leads to unexpected consequences (Photo: Inside Man/Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, and 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)The Premise of the Show
The show’s official summary states: “Jefferson Grieff, a former law lecturer, is on death row for killing his wife and now assists in solving cold cases.
Reverend Harry Watling, meanwhile, picks up his son’s maths tutor, Janice Fife, from the station, where she recently helped journalist Beth Davenport out of a tricky situation on the Tube.” So, what went down in Inside Man’s last episode?
The Last Episode Explained
In episode three, Harry (played by David Tennant) puts his plan into action, intending to kill Janice using carbon monoxide poisoning. Harry and his wife, Mary, believe that Janice will go to the police about their son Ben, whom she suspects of accessing child pornography.
However, Harry doesn’t know that Ben is still trapped in the cellar with Janice. As the episode progresses, Janice attempts to manipulate Ben into calling the authorities on his parents, but Ben, hallucinating due to the carbon monoxide, ends up attacking Janice with a hammer.
Elsewhere, Mary tries to return home, but Harry refuses to let her in. This leads Mary to visit Janice’s flat, where she meets Beth (played by Lydia West), who is looking for Janice. Mary pretends to be Janice’s friend, while Beth claims to be her flatmate.
Beth begins questioning Mary about Janice’s whereabouts and how she gained access to the flat. Under the pressure, Mary pulls out a bread knife, and in the ensuing struggle, accidentally cuts Beth’s arm.
The lines between good and evil blur as dark secrets unravel in the final moments (Photo: Inside Man/Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, and 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)While they are both cleaning up the wound, Mary’s phone rings, and it’s Ben, asking why she and Harry kept the secret about the porn. Ben then reveals to Mary that he’s in the cellar with Janice. As they talk, Beth overhears and figures out where Janice is being held.
The two women argue, and they rush out into the street, with Mary urgently calling Harry to inform him that Ben is still in the cellar. Unfortunately, Mary is struck and killed by a moving lorry as they rushes out. After hearing the voicemail from Mary, Harry hurries to rescue Ben from the cellar.
Ben pushes past his father and escapes the house. Harry proceeds to the cellar to kill Janice, but before he can act, Beth breaks into the house in an attempt to stop him. As Harry moves towards Beth, a group of masked police officers arrives, armed and ready, preventing him from carrying out his plan to kill Janice.
The last five minutes of the episode show a video call between Jefferson Grieff and Harry, both of them in different prisons. Grieff explains how he figured out where Janice was by paying attention to what had been overlooked.
Grieff reveals that no one had filed a missing person’s report for Janice, and her last known location was the vicarage where she tutored on Saturdays. He speculated that Janice could either be at her flat or at the vicarage, and he correctly deduced that she was at the vicarage.
He also confesses that he was the one who had sent the masked police to Harry’s house. Grieff admits he had earlier told the prison warden that he would trade the location of his wife’s head for a pardon, but instead, he gave them Harry’s address, knowing that Janice would be there.
Does Janice Survive?
When we last see Janice in the cellar, the arrival of the masked police suggests she is near death due to the carbon monoxide poisoning and the hammer strike. However, Janice does survive. In a post-credits scene, she is seen visiting Grieff in prison.
Grieff asks her what he can do for her in the week leading up to his execution, and she requests that he solve the mystery of her husband’s murder (though, viewers might wonder—when did she even have a husband?). Dillan raises an intriguing point: Janice’s husband isn’t dead.
Janice replies, “No, but he deserves to be,” and asks Grieff for help to kill her husband. Grieff agrees, and the scene ends there.
