The second series of ‘Marcella’ is set to reach a gripping conclusion on Monday (9 April) when it’s finally revealed who is behind the 17 child murders.
While last week’s episode pointed the finger firmly in the direction of Samantha’s mum Jane, with a disturbing scene where she seemingly poisoned Marcella’s son Edward, fans have been speculating there could be more revelations to come, with many other characters still under suspicion.
We know the killer is likely to be female given the game-changing discovery of a box of tampons at the crime scene that were found in episode six, but with a supporting cast full of women, that hasn’t exactly narrowed things down.
With that in mind, we spoke to Marcella’s writer and creator, Hans Rosenfeldt, to try and get him to shine a light on each of the suspects....
Samantha’s mum Jane
Jane is the prime suspect right now given the conclusion of episode seven where she gave a monologue about abuse before Edward was seen passed out in her kitchen, but does the fact she was a late entrant into the story rule her out as a plausible suspect?
“She has been playing in the background as Samantha’s mother,” Hans says. “She has been more involved in the storyline involving Edward than the murder investigation, but we’re going to develop this more in the next episode...”
Charity owner Maya
Kids Call boss Maya has come under massive suspicion from fans due to her desire to stitch up her husband Vince and her affair with Tim, and as Hans notes, she’s “basically met or has been around all the victims”.
“Her motive might be a bit sketchy at this moment, but she’s had the possibility to meet all the kids,” he says. “She’s very ambitious and anything threatening her or her charity, she would deal with. She also was seen going to that abandoned house, plus she also has money and resource.”
Jason’s girlfriend Becky
Last week’s episode saw Becky begin to unravel after speculation she may have harmed Gail, with Marcella revealing a potential link to a prostitution ring on a yacht years earlier.
Up until this point, she’d flown under the radar as a potential suspect, but Hans claims this could actually make her even more of one.
“She seems genuinely nice, she cares about Marcella’s kids and she’s happy with Jason, so she’s not been a person of suspicion at all,” he says. “But sometimes, that makes you the most suspicious person.
“We’ve seen her flash a bit of anger, and she was also the one giving Marcella advice about the hypnotherapist - was this really out of kindness?”
Charity worker Sacha and her partner, Jojo the vet
At times, it has felt like this pair have been part of the story just to be red herrings, but Hans points out something some viewers may not have noticed that could be a game-changer.
“If you look very thoroughly at when Jojo has sex with the guy in the bar, she has a tattoo that looks a bit like a symbol from one of the discs [which are inserted into the murdered children],” he reveals. “You see it for a brief moment and it is very similiar.
“She is also the only one who has - as far as we know - a medical education. She is a vet and she has the blue gloves and syringes.”
He also says we shouldn’t rule out Sacha, as she has “very much been involved in the foundation and has been in the position to be able to set Vince up for embezzlement”.
The care home boss
This character has only featured on a handful of occasions, most notably when she told Gail to stop her communications with Joel, who revealed his locked-in state was “no accident”, as had previously been claimed.
“Why wouldn’t the manager of a care home want to communicate with one of her patients?” Hans notes. “She tells Gail she’s spoken to Joel’s family and they want her to stop, but who is Joel’s family? There’s a reason for her trying to stop Gail.”
Marcella
While Marcella doesn’t seem to be in the frame for the crimes, some fans have questioned if she could be responsible due to her involvement in the serial murder case from series one.
However, Hans warned them they are most likely barking up the wrong tree, explaining: “We never tried to make the audience think that Marcella would be involved this time around, but if people think that because she’s a little bit unstable, that’s fine.”
Phil Dawkins / Reg and Alan
Yes, we know we’re looking for a woman, but could it be that we’re just supposed to think we are looking for a female killer?
Well, it seems there isn’t another shock twist about the murderer’s gender in store, as the remaining male characters will not feature in the final episode.
Hans says: “We’re not going to find much out about them, because that’s how I write these stories. We meet them, get interested in them, they cross our investigation, but when they’ve done that, we’re not giving them their own proper ending.
“Phil was just the first suspect, and Marcella just let her emotions get carried away, which she had to deal with in the aftermath of his attack on Edward.”
‘Marcella’ airs on Monday on 9pm on ITV.