So we come to the end of the road for the second series of Scott and Bailey with a great seven episodes already in the can, it was up to episode eight to provide an explosive conclusion to this run and I have to say in some respects in certainly delivered.

As Nick Savage had been mentioned but not seen throughout the series it was evident that this final episode would feature him in some way, possibly trying to seek out Rachel Bailey once again. For those not keeping up Savage was Rachel’s barrister boyfriend who she discovered was married and later tried to have her killed after he manipulated her during a trial. Nick didn’t feature in person throughout the episode, even though Rupert Graves was credited on the opening titles, however his figure loomed large after he was found beaten almost to death on the same night that Rachel got stinking drunk and has no memory of her actions for the last part of her night. When DCI Julie Dodson, the brilliant Pippa Haywood, comes calling it seems that Rachel is an obvious target due to the bump on her head and her lack of memory. Indeed she even doubts herself, wondering if she could’ve beaten up Nick, especially considering the damage she did to that streetlight several weeks ago, and it’s a testament to the actress Suranne Jones that we’re equally in the dark over Rachel’s innocence.

If that weren’t enough for Rachel, she also has family drama to deal with as Sean is still suggesting that she meet up with her mum, even though her sister Allison wants nothing to do with the woman that abandoned them when they were just children. It seems that we the audience are to be kept in the dark over who Rachel’s mother actually is, leading us to believe that it may be a character we’ve already met. I can’t be the only one who was thinking that Gill, Rachel’s boss, could in fact be her mother although I’m not sure if Scott & Bailey is the type of show that needs to rely on cheap twists in order to reel in viewers.

With Rachel’s drama taking precedence, Janet had a bit of a quieter week even though we got the conclusion of her series-long storyline with Andy as well dealing with the state of the relationship she has with her estranged husband Ade. Obviously we discovered last week that Andy had had a mental breakdown before Janet and he started working together again, though they’d both seemingly made peace with each other I think everybody knew that that wouldn’t be the end of it. A telephone call about when the coroner wanted to see Gill lands both Andy and Janet in hot water, with their boss adamant on sacking one of them and Janet sure that her former lover has got it in the neck for her. Though Janet’s career hangs in the balance throughout the episode, there is only one mention of Gill’s son who’s revelation that he was joining the police was one of last week’s big plot points.

The fact that personal drama is the driving force behind this final episode, means there’s barely room for a police investigation though there is one clumsily added in here. It involves Margaret Selwyn whose husband had fallen over in the bath with two knocks on his head while the injuries seemed to indicate foul play we see at the beginning of the episode that Janet and Gill deliver a verdict of accidental death to Margaret as well as her daughters. However when Janet is later visited by one of the daughters claiming that her lovely mother probably finished off her father they start the investigation once again. I found this part of the story surprisingly clunky as it didn’t really fit with the high drama elsewhere and it was almost if the murder of a man was treated as the light-hearted segment in an otherwise action-packed final edition. I would rather have seen more time spent on the resolution of the Nick Savage investigation rather than see some coppers half-hearted attempt to see if a little old pensioner lady murdered her husband.

As I’ve said before Scott & Bailey is so great thanks to the chemistry between Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones as Janet and Rachel however the two only shared a handful of scenes together. It’s no coincidence that these scenes were also the episode’s best, as the opening once again takes place in the women’s loos with Janet chastising Rachel for her constant boozing and calling her a knob. It’s a testament to Sally Wainwright’s script that these two seem like real colleagues with some lines still making me chuckle, such as the one where Rachel asks Janet for perfume to cover up the smell of her night out the reply is ‘no because then you’ll just smell like a transgender bricklayer.’ Amelia Bullmore, who I feel was criminally overlooked at the BAFTAs, is also on form as Gill is allowed to be both forceful and concerned with the actress really putting over that she cares about all of her team. While there are some sour notes in this final episode, such as the aforementioned investigation, most of the continuing plot strands were concluded while the identity of Rachel’s mother being kept secret indicates that a third series is in the works. It’s fair to say though that through series two Scott & Bailey has made a name for itself as one of, if not the finest, modern British police drama currently on TV now let’s just hope the critics agree when it competes for the Best Drama Series award at next month’s BAFTAs.

Have you been watching this series of Scott & Bailey? What did you think of the final episode? Leave Your Comments Below.