In the fourth and final episode of Channel 5 drama The House Across the Street, we finally learned the truth about Emily Winter’s death.
It wasn’t George (Craig Parkinson) who killed the young girl, nor was it her parents or one of their neighbours, but her older brother Dean.
During one of Emily’s tantrums, he suggested that she go and play in the park to give their mum Sabine “a break”, which she did. But Emily wouldn’t settle and sprinted off into the woods.
Dean ran after her, ordering his sister to stop screaming, but she wouldn’t, so he took off his coat and used it to smother her. A few moments later, she was dead.
After Claudia (Shirley Henderson) learned the horrifying truth, she claimed responsibility for Emily’s death, sacrificing herself so that Sabine, her husband Owen and their son Dean could attempt to rebuild their family following the tragedy.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com about her character’s behaviour, Henderson said: “Sometimes I think her behaviour is very instinctive, and some of it is shocking to her even.
“It’s the silence and the being alone that brings out this other side of her. It’s thinking about people to the point of stressing and upsetting her way beyond what it should or is healthy for her or the people that she knows and cares about.”
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And this is what she had to say about the resolution: “I like the ending. I felt, ‘Oh yeah, I can see how this could be.’
“It’s a story. You’ve got to just go with it. It’s not real. There will be recognisable parts for many people of course, because it’s all emotion from life, but it’s a story that has been weaved. I like the journey she goes on.”
Parkinson added: “Everybody’s going to have a very different take on it. I would expect empathy, shock and probably sadness.”
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