Last night’s penultimate episode of this brilliant drama saw the investigation into Alison Carter’s disappearance resuming where it left off last week; investigating officer George Bennett breaking the news to Alison’s mother that he’d discovered Alison’s blood stained clothing – as well as a large quantity of blood – in a disused mineshaft and was therefore assuming that Alison was dead.

The footage throughout cut to and fro between the present day and 1963 and in the present, Catherine took her wayward daughter Sasha with her as she went to visit George, reliving some of her own childhood memories as they made the journey to his home. Catherine’s mother is and was a writer and we saw several flashbacks to times when a very young Catherine would crave her mother’s attention, only to be rejected as her mother put her work first, which Catherine realised was a parallel to her relationship with her own daughter.

Back in 1963, George’s right-hand man Tommy told him that ballistics had analysed the two bullets that were found along with the blood stained clothing and had identified them as having been fired from a Webley service revolver. Tommy put forward the theory that the gun may be one that was stolen from a Colonel Carey some weeks before. He further pointed out that Alison’s step-father, Philip Hawkin, was a friend of the Colonel’s and may have known exactly where to find the gun as no signs of forced entry accompanied the burglary.

Back with Catherine, when she arrived at George’s home, his sister Margaret answered the door and refused to allow Catherine to see her brother. She said that George didn’t want to continue with the film because he didn’t want to rake up old miseries that were best left alone. As Catherine prepared to leave, she asked that George call her as she had ‘something he needs to see’.

We then saw George’s 1963 persona arresting Philip on suspicion of burglary and him telling the pompous Hawkin that he didn’t believe he hadn’t been involved in the robbery and that furthermore, he wouldn’t give up trying to find Alison and to make sure he got the man who killed her. The arrogant and seemingly unflappable Hawkin replied that the Inspector had absolutely no evidence to back up his allegations and said, ‘Are you out of your mind Inspector? Or just out of your depth?’ which further fuelled George’s dislike of the man.

George was angered by the fact that he had nothing with which to charge Hawkin, but was about to change when Hawkin’s wife made a frantic call to the station asking George to go to her house right away. When he and Tommy got there, Alison’s mother showed them a blood stained shirt that had been stuffed behind a radiator which, when George took out, he found was wrapped around a Webley service revolver.

George then ordered a search warrant and he and his officers searched Hawkin’s home thoroughly. While Tommy supervised the general search – which turned up a map of Scardale’s lead mines – George went to Hawkin’s dark room to search alone. In it he found a safe which contained a stash of photographs of Alison and Hawkin and in which he was depicted raping the thirteen year old.

Back in the present day, we saw more footage of George talking to Catherine on film as he took her through the details of the search, which he likened to ‘opening a Pandora’s Box.’ He told Catherine that the reason he’d never married or had children was because of what he’d seen in the dark room that day. He said he hadn’t known that there was that much cruelty in the world and he wouldn’t allow the risk of any child of his ‘meeting it.’

George then called Catherine and arranged to meet with her at a local café. She hurriedly left the hotel chastising Sasha when she protested that she wanted to go with her. Catherine refused and hurried away.

Back in 1963 George interviewed Hawkin who had his solicitor in attendance. George told the solicitor what they’d found at the house and formally charged Hawkin with rape. Hawkin immediately said the photographs were fakes and that he’d never seen them before. He also denied any knowledge of the blood stained shirt and the gun. He angrily accused George and Tommy of trying to frame him and for the first time, lost his cool and had to be restrained by Tommy. George then told him that he was going to charge him with murder as soon as the Director of Public Prosecutions gave him permission to do so.

Back with Catherine, she waited in the café for George to show up, and when he finally did, he asked what it was she had that he needed to see. Catherine then asked him about the time that he worked Vice in Manchester’s police force before being posted to Scarsdale. She asked if he’d had access to child pornography at that time – which he wouldn’t answer – and also asked why George hadn’t told her that he’d contributed an article to a student magazine about how easy it is to ‘doctor’ or manipulate photographic evidence. At that moment, she showed him the article he’d written, complete with examples of faked photographs that George had made himself. Angered by what she’d said, George stormed out and shouted to her, ‘You have no idea!’ before walking away.

When Catherine got back to her hotel room, she found Sasha passed out on the floor because she’d drunk a lot of the contents of the room’s mini-bar. The young girl angrily lashed out at her mother saying that she wanted her father, not her. The next day, as the two visited the scene of Alison’s disappearance, Catherine received a call from her boss Keith who wanted to know what was going on with George. Catherine tried to fob him off but her assistant, Nicola, told Keith the truth of the situation, which made him suspect that George had in fact manipulated the evidence and covered up a miscarriage of justice. He was also worried that Catherine was trying to protect George rather than seeking the truth.

Back in ’63, George’s bosses weren’t convinced that there was enough evidence against Hawkin to take the case to court but when George showed them the photographs, they agreed that they were indeed damning evidence and told George to proceed with the prosecution.

Meanwhile, Catherine and Sasha again tried to visit George and on the car journey, Catherine and Sasha become closer as they talked about Catherine’s childhood. However, when they arrived, they saw George being stretchered into an ambulance. At the hospital, it transpired that George had had a heart attack and Catherine wept openly at his bedside while Sasha waited anxiously outside.

In 1963, George and his team closed the incident room down and George speculated that Hawkin may have killed before. He explained to Tommy that sex offenders tend to progress to murder rather than kill as their first crime. Tommy however pointed out that Hawkin had spent his life in Scardale and that other than this charge, he was ‘clean’.

In the present day, from her hotel, Catherine called Nicola to ask for Tommy’s address which further aroused Nicola’s suspicions that Catherine was trying to cover up something that George had done back in 1963. When Catherine refused to answer, Nicola told her that she couldn’t protect her if their boss found out she’d been concealing something. Angered by her assistant’s disloyalty, Catherine told her she had no need to protect her.

Catherine and Sasha then went to leave the hotel but Keith was in the foyer and took Catherine aside to quiz her about what was going on. At first, Catherine said that she felt they should stop the film but Keith dismissed that as impossible saying that by cancelling it, they would in fact draw more attention to the ‘real’ story; the one that Catherine’s trying so hard to avoid telling. She angrily denied the allegation but Keith retorted that in hiding the truth about George’s possible involvement in a miscarriage of justice, she was complicit in the cover up. Again, she denied that this was the case and asked for more time to ‘get the full story’; he gave her 24 hours.

In 1963, George interviewed Hawkin alone and pleaded with him to disclose where Alison’s body was. Throughout, Hawkin denied that he’d killed her and despite George telling him that he would hang unless he co-operated, Hawkin remained adamant that the jury would see the photographs were fakes and he would go free. He also taunted George about his involvement in the case, implying that he was obsessed by Alison.

Catherine then travelled to Tommy’s home but when she introduced herself to him, he angrily slammed the door in her face. He only relented in his hostile attitude when Sasha stepped in to defend her mother’s actions and explain to Tommy that her mother had risked everything to help George. After that, Tommy came out of the house and said he would talk to them.

The closing scenes were of Hawkin being led into court for the start of his murder trail.

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The second part of this excellent drama was every bit as good as the first! It may not be set at a thrilling pace and there are few screaming matches or hyped up ‘cops’, but it’s all the more convincing in its ‘Britishness’ for that. It’s not so much a nail-biter as a brain-teaser and again, I think that adds to its appeal.

I can’t wait for the concluding part next Monday when we’ll finally get to find out what George did or didn’t do and if Hawkin is convicted and of course, what really happened to Alison and at whose hands.

Personally, I’m thinking it might well have been her mother. She could have killed Alison out of jealousy if she knew or suspected that Philip was having a relationship with her daughter. She could have planted the shirt and gun and if George did make the photographic evidence himself, then between them, they will have ensured that Philip is the prime suspect, albeit for very different motives.

In next week’s episode, the accusations against George, both in 1963 and in the present, mean that in 1963 the case against Hawkin is in jeopardy and that in the present day, everything George has ever worked for may be about to come crashing down.