***Warning: Spoilers Ahead ***
Siobhan Finneran’s DI Liz Nyles has been put through the wringer in ITV drama Protection.
When her married lover and two people under her care in witness protection are killed ahead of the court case of drug baron Eddie Crowther (Alec Newman), her somewhat simple life is upended with corruption being revealed all the way up to British Intelligence.
Under pressure from DI Wheatley (Katherine Kelly) and with a strong suspicion that Liz herself might be linked to the confidentiality leak, Liz found herself reaching a swift conclusion: It’s possible that her partner, Brandice (Barry Ward), could be connected to this issue.
Liz finds herself in a challenging situation because she doesn’t know who to rely on. Her actions, as she secretly investigates in the background of Wheatley’s, only serve to further incriminate her, and at times, bring about near disasters.
Protection ending explained
Liz starts the series finale at a loss. With her affair with Brandice now out in the open, and Wheatley convinced she’s a corrupt cop, Liz’s partner Kohli delivers the news that Crowther, the heroin kingpin who was about to come clean to her, was found hanged in his cell. Neither believe he killed himself, and knows he’s been murdered.
Liz became extremely determined to uncover the truth and believed that Intelligence Officer Nigel Frankton was involved in some wrongdoing. With no other way to find evidence, she decided to enter Brandice’s house secretly in search of any proof that could link Nigel to the situation at hand.
Instead, she finds divorce papers that Brandice had signed, but his wife Gemma hadn’t. He was planning to leave her for Liz after all, and had left a clue for her should something go wrong – a photo of a portrait hung on her wall.
However, their search is disrupted when daughter Jasmine calls to say that Liz’s dementia-confused dad had gone missing. They find him injured in his old house after falling on the floor. Suspecting he’s broken his hip, Jas calls 999. While they wait, Liz admits she became an officer to make him proud.
Liz checks the photo Brandice took a picture of, and finds a thumb drive stuck to the back of it. Unable to access the file on her phone, she leaves Jas and her dad and heads to find answers.
Reaching out to one of Crowther’s witnesses, she begs for help and is led to someone from Kurdistan, who previously worked with Crowther, trading drugs for firearms from the UK before ending the connection.
As she leaves, she spots a BMW and believes she’s being tracked, calling Kohli, but her phone calls are being bugged.
When he comes to pick her up, she is held at gunpoint by a man she recognises as the man who killed Paul Brandice. She realises Kelman, the head of the Corruption Investigation Unit, had given them access to her phone.
Taken to the woods, Liz is told to hand over the drive. Kohli tries to take him, but is shot in the process, but gives time for Liz to get away.
Liz receives a video message from her father in the hospital and gets a call from Frankton, who threatens her with consequences if she doesn’t cooperate. She goes to the McLellan house as told, and eventually meets up with Frankton. This is where they first encounter each other.
Who was behind the murders and why?
Frankton confirms he was the mastermind behind everything that Crowther was accused of, using the dodgy kingpin’s heroin smuggling empire as a front of his own to deal in arms trafficking. As such, nearly everything traces back to Crowther, whether he’s guilty of it or not, with the thumbdrive containing encrypted information about his inventory, so he needs it back.
Liz and Frankton get in a fight, but Wheatley then breaks into the house with a team of armed officers, arresting Frankton as well as Liz for ‘breaking her bail conditions’.
Later on, Liz is released by Wheatley, but when faced with the reality of the events, she crumbles and admits that she finds the truth too frightening because of its implications, opting instead to doubt its veracity.
Kelman later speaks to Liz in the car park, arguing she was simply passing information on by a senior British Intelligence officer when they requested it, but didn’t know the extent of what went on. She says that Brandice was likely brought on board by his old Army friend under the belief he was helping Intelligence, and not anything illegal.
Liz is considering making Frankton’s criminal activities public knowledge, but Kelman cautions against it as revealing his wrongdoings might not serve the nation’s best interests since Frankton has effectively erased any evidence that could lead back to Crowther. In fact, if she proceeds without concrete proof, her allegations may be dismissed by higher-ups and buried in the process.
What happens next?
Liz attends Brandice’s funeral, with Kohli, thankfully alive, joining her. He informs her he’s been given six months’ leave and a promotion in exchange for his silence. He tells Liz he’s agreed, as a family man who needs a fresh start.
DI Rick Bewley later tells Liz that Brandice had all the information he needed before they started sleeping together, telling her that she deserved to know the truth, and that their romance wasn’t a lie after all. Heading to his gravesite, she bids her own farewell.
Liz calls her mother and asks if she thinks it’s possible to start anew. Feeling optimistic, Liz takes her leave of Brandice at his grave and heads home.
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2025-03-17 15:16