Shetland season 8 episode 5 recap: was Ellen killed by her own family?
The penultimate episode of Shetland season 8 sees the tangled web surrounding Ellen's murder become more complicated, with new suspects introduced and more twists and turns than ever. So what happened in Shetland season 8 episode 5? Here's everything you need to know...
As we draw closer to the conclusion of this season, episode 5 opens with Ruth Calder getting the heartbreaking news that Cal is dead after his van veered off the road. While we know that Cal had been drinking with Bobby Bain right before his death and that possibly Bobby tampered with his van when it wouldn't start, the police initially think that Cal's death was just a tragic accident.
But as Calder struggles to get her head around the fact Cal is gone, she finally gets the voicemail he left for her right before his crash, telling her that there is something shifty about Bobby and that she needs to call him.
Calder is determined to get to the bottom of what Cal must have meant and tells Sandy to take her to the Bains. But while she is grilling Bobby about his evening with Cal, Tosh is over at the Sandats' house asking them about the day Akmal died, because she believes there could be a connection to his accident and the trouble Ellen was having before she died.
Despite Tosh going gently with her questioning, the Sandats later complain about her being aggressive, leaving Tosh stunned. So when Harry tells her to tread carefully with the family, the fact they have lied about her questioning makes Tosh think they are hiding something... and she is right because over at the Sandat house, the couple are arguing over something Farida has done, with Azir telling her to take the pills he has given her and that he is fed up cleaning up the mess she has got them into.
Still in shock after Cal's untimely death, Calder gets to the police station and tells Tosh they have to bring in Bobby. But Tosh is reluctant... believing that Calder should be with Cal's brother, James, and not at work.
Calder finds it hard being at Cal's with James, but while she is outside talking to her brother, Alan (who tells her he thinks her theory about their dad having an affair with Stella Quinn was correct), Sandy is inside doing an unofficial search of Cal's room, where he finds a box of little blue plastic bags - the same ones that are used to sell drugs in around Shetland.
James is fuming when Sandy starts asking whether Cal dealt drugs, but the pieces all fall into place for Calder, especially when James tells them it is Neil Bain they need to be questioning about drugs on the island.
At first, Neil pretends he doesn't know what Sandy and Calder are talking about, but as Calder threatens him with a house search, he quickly cracks and confesses he has been dealing with Cal and that recently Bobby came to them with a big bag of cash and asked to get in on their business venture.
Calder is convinced that the cash must have been Ellen's and soon the enormity of what has happened to Cal gets too much and she confesses to Sandy that Cal was at Bobby's the previous evening because of something she's told him. We know that she is referring to her dad's secret fling with Stella, but Calder doesn't share that with Sandy.
Meanwhile, Tosh's husband has called her to the seafront because he's found Farida Sandat having a breakdown and she's asking for Tosh. Tosh treads carefully with Farida after what happened with their previous chat, and soon Farida confesses they lied about the day Akmal died.
Farida says that while it was still a tragic accident, she was actually asleep on the sofa after taking some tablets Azir had given her. She was woken by Heather and Ellen was outside screaming, holding a lifeless Akmal, and Heather convinced them to lie about what happened, claiming that the police would come down heavy on the couple as the pills that Farida had taken weren't prescribed.
Later Azir is brought in for questioning about Akmal's death and he confirms everything his wife has said and confesses to Tosh that Heather has been blackmailing them since, threatening to go to the police and tell them that they lied about their son's accident.
Tosh wants to get to the bottom of whether this is connected to Ellen's death, and soon the police find a blanket in Azir's car that matches the fibers in Ellen's hair, and he is forced to admit that Ellen came to him the night she died, soaking wet and asking for cash. But when Tosh asks him where he drove her, she is stunned when he reveals that he dropped her - still very much alive - at the Bain house.
The pilot thickens when Bobby's bank statement reveals that his spending all happened in London in the days leading up to Ellen's death and that an eyewitness saw him and Ellen together, arguing. So with Bobby looking guiltier by the minute, along with the news Ellen went home the night she was killed and the Bains have kept it hidden... it's looking more likely than ever that Ellen was killed by someone in her own family.
Shetland season 8 is available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and BritBox, from November 29, in the US.
