Having been penned by ‘Doctor Foster’ creator Mike Barlett, we knew the ‘Trauma’ finale would deliver, and sure enough, it didn’t disappoint.
The final 60 minutes of ITV’s latest thriller were proper heart-in-mouth TV, in the same way both series finales of ‘Doctor Foster’ had been before it.
Not only did we finally find out if Jon was telling the truth about his conduct during Alex’s operation, but there was a stand-out performance from lead star John Simm, whose portrayal of a distraught and grieving father pushed to the limit is sure to be recognised in the awards stakes.
Here’s nine moments he and his fellow stars kept us on the edge of our seats during the dramatic conclusion...
When Alana invited Dan in the house
After turning up on Jon’s doorstep at the end of the last episode, we wondered if Dan would go for brute force or charm to get in the Allerton family house. When he went for the latter, we prayed Alana would simply shut the door on him.
Unfortunately, she didn’t - a decision she soon came to regret...
When Alana spotted her phone was missing
At the climax of one of Mike Barlett’s signature long scenes (our all time favourite obviously being *that* ‘Doctor Foster’ dinner party), Alana twigged Jon had stolen her phone, before he quickly cut off the landline and pulled a knife out on her, leaving us questioning what he would do to her.
Although, we have to say, we’d probably never needed a commercial break more.
When Lisa arrived home and found Dan on the doorstep
In a scene that mimicked the earlier one with Alana, Dan managed to pull the wool over Lisa’s eyes, and trick her into becoming one of his hostages.
Having not known what he’d done to Alana at this point, we feared the worst for Lisa as she begun an impromptu psychiatric session.
When Jon got the message from Dan telling him to come home or Lisa was dead
Jon faced the biggest race home of his life, and we can only imagine how painful that traffic jam was.
At this point, Lisa wasn’t sure about the level of danger she was in, but that soon became all too clear when he pulled the knife on her.
Our relief when we discovered he hadn’t killed Alana
Luckily, our heart rates were given a rest when it was revealed Dan had simply threatened Alana to stay quiet upstairs.
But when it looked as if the teen was about to persuade him to give up on the situation, Jon walked through the door to make everything 10 times worse.
When Jon admitted he had made a mistake
The moment we’d been waiting the whole of the last three episodes for came when Jon admitted he had made a mistake while operating on Alex’s son.
However, it remained unclear if this admission of guilt was genuine, or an attempt to save Alana, whose jugular Dan currently had a knife next to.
When Dan raised the knife above Alana’s head
We totally thought she was a goner.
When Dan encouraged Jon to pick up the knife and stab him
With Dan having spared Alana, there was a tense showdown between the two men, where Dan attempted to goad Jon into stabbing him. For a moment, it looked like he might go through with it, but ultimately he decided to kick the shit out of him instead.
When Jon walked into Dan’s hospital room
At this point, we thought Jon had come to finish off the job, but he sat down and confirmed the truth - that he had messed up during Alex’s operation.
While Dan certainly didn’t seem to get initial closure from the moment, we later saw a vision of Alex appear in front of him, seemingly giving him what he needed to move on.
Meanwhile, while it looked like Jon would be spared his job, he had lost the thing that mattered the most to him - the trust of his daughter.
‘Trauma’ is available to watch in its entirety on the ITV Hub now.