Seaside crime drama The Long Call came to an end tonight on ITV, with viewers finally discovering which Devon resident killed Simon Walden.
Based on Ann Cleeves’ novel of the same name, the drama followed Matthew Venn, played by The Long Call cast lead Ben Aldridge, a detective who returned to his hometown of North Devon to mourn his late father, confronting the religious community from his childhood that excommunicated him at age 19 for no longer believing and coming out as gay.
When Matthew and his colleague Jen (Doctor Who‘s Pearl Mackie) are called to investigate the death of Simon Walden, a resident with a mysterious past, Matthew soon finds his leads are pointing towards the Barum Brethren community that cast him aside as a teenager.
Over the course of the four-parter, we watched Matthew’s suspect list grow as various character’s possible motives for murdering Simon came to light and while the killer was tough to call, I don’t think many viewers saw the eventual answer coming.
If the series finale left you a bit confused, or you just need a bit of recap, then not to worry – we’ve broken down the ending of The Long Call for you so read on for the answers to all of your burning questions.
Who killed Simon Walden?
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It’s the question we’ve been asking throughout this four-part series: who killed Simon Walden? The mysterious and Woodyard employee was first believed to be a loner who kept to himself, but Matthew and his team soon learned that he’d begun to get involved with the Barum Brethren – the religious community Matthew had grown up in.
While Matthew suspected Christopher Reasley (Neil Morrissey) at first, given that he’d been unhappy with Simon living at his daughter Caroline (Siobhan Cullen) and asked Simon to sign an NDA over some unknown incident, while Simon’s house mates Gaby (Aoife Hinds) and Ed (Amit Shah) also made the suspect lit at one point.
However, Matthew ultimately became convinced that it was Barum Brethren leader Dennis (Martin Shaw) who killed Simon, who we learn was trying to help his wife Grace (Anita Robson) escape their abusive relationship.
After Grace reveals the mental abuse she suffered at the hands of Dennis, Matthew obtains a search warrant to search the house and finds Simon’s missing phone but no murder weapon. He arrests Dennis, however when CCTV backs up his alibi, he’s released.
Matthew and Jen figure that Dennis was assisted in murdering Simon – and it turns out they’re right. After Matthew stops by their home to look for Grace and Dennis knocks him unconscious, Grace confronts Dennis about his mental control over her and tries to kill him before Matthew comes round and stops her.
Grace admits that she murdered Simon, knowing that he was due to meet Lucy (Sarah Gordy) at Crows Point, after slipping away from Matthew’s father’s funeral. She says that Dennis convinced her that Simon never intended to actually help her escape him and that he just wanted Dennis out of the picture to take his place as the head of the Barum Brethren.
While initially, she wants to take responsibility for the murder by herself and won’t implicate Dennis, she eventually gives evidence that she’d been ordered by her husband to kill Simon as a victim of coercive control. Dennis was subsequently arrested for soliciting his wife to commit murder.
Who kidnapped Rosa?
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The Long Call’s first episode ended with the abduction of teenage Barum Brethren resident Rosa (Iona Anderson), who’d managed to call the police from an unknown location.
While she was found in episode two, the teenager said she couldn’t remember what had happened, however the police tracked down where the necklace found in her room had come from and discovered that Christopher Reasley had bought it.
When they brought him in for questioning, he said that he’d bought the necklace for his daughter but gave it to Rosa as he’d noticed she’d looked upset. However, when Rosa finally goes to the police, she reveals that the necklace had been a bribe from Christopher to keep her mouth shut about an incident that had taken place prior to Simon’s murder.
Rosa was sexually assaulted outside of The Woodyard by Ed Raveley (Amit Shah), Caroline Reasley’s boyfriend who said he’d moved to North Devon for a break from London life but was actually fired from his city job for sexually harassing an intern.
Simon had witnessed the assault and intervened before speaking to Ed and recording him speaking candidly about it. Dennis picked Rosa up and told her not to tell anyone about what had happened, blaming Rosa for venturing outside of the Brethren community.
After Ed told Christopher that the incident was actually just a misunderstanding after flirting with Rosa, he asked Simon to sign a non-disclosure agreement but he refused. Meanwhile, Ed went to Simon’s chalet to look for his phone and take it, however he ran into Rosa and prevented her from leaving. She fell over and hit her head, leaving her confused and leading her to call the police.
Ed is arrested by the police for the attempted rape of Rosa and while they suspect him of murdering Simon, they learn that he was not responsible for his death.
Did Christopher Reasley’s drunk driving kill Caroline’s mum?
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In the first episode of The Long Call, we learn that Caroline Reasley, Simon’s housemate, does not have a good relationship with her father and landlord Christopher for unknown reasons, however throughout the series, she reveals that she suspects him of killing her mother.
She says that she thinks he was drunk when driving with her and her mother in the car and that was the reason the car crashed into a tree, killing her mother. She tells her boyfriend Ed that she’s certain her father covered up the truth to avoid being prosecuted for her mother’s death and that if he did that, then he’s capable of killing Simon.
We eventually learn that Christopher wasn’t responsible for either Simon’s death or the death of his wife. He tells Caroline that he wasn’t driving under the influence when the car crash killed her mother, but that her mum, who’d been dealing with depression, had grabbed the steering wheel during an argument and the car swerved into a tree. He didn’t tell Caroline at the time as she had been grieving.