Protection ending explained: A deep dive on the final gripping episode

Viewers can't get enough of ITV's excellent crime drama Protection - we take a deep dive into the final episode and look at everything that went down.

In her first ever leading role, Siobhan Finneran of Happy Valley stars as police officer DI Liz Nyles, working in the secretive and high-stakes world of Witness Protection. Not only does Liz juggle a challenging front-line job, many women will identify with the struggle that sees her trying to be present for her teenage daughter and unwell father, with a difficult ex also thrown into the mix.

Finding herself at the heart of a security breach and professionally compromised by a secret affair with a colleague, Liz will stop at nothing to redeem herself and keep her witnesses and her own family safe - even if it means breaking the rules. In the same way we took a good look at the endings of fellow crime dramas Out There and Playing Nice, we break down everything that happened and what became of Liz in the Protection finale.

Protection ending explained

The Protection finale begins by delivering several blows for Liz. Her affair with Brandice has become common knowledge, Wheatley has her down as being corrupt and she finds out the drug kingpin, Crowther, has been found dead in his cell - and she doesn't believe the hanging was self inflicted, convinced he was murdered.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of what's going on, Liz breaks into Brandice’s house to hunt down proof that Nigel Frankton, Brandice's friend from his time in Special Forces is responsible.

Although she doesn't come across evidence for this in her search, Liz does find divorce papers - Brandice had signed them but his wife Gemma had not. At least Liz found some proof that Brandice was planning to start a life with her after all and this part of their relationship hadn't been a lie.

Liz is forced to stop her search for further intel from Brandice's house when Jasmine phones to say Liz’s dad, Sid, is missing. Suffering from Alzheimer's, Sid had wandered to his old house and had a fall.

Before Liz had been called away from her covert search of Brandice's house, she'd noticed and picked up what she believed to be a clue left for her - a photograph of a portrait hanging on the wall at her own home.

Now with the time to look at the photo properly, Liz discovers a thumb drive stuck to the back of it. Leaving Jas and Sid, she heads off to find somewhere to access the drive's contents.

While making the journey, Liz believes she's being tailed by a BMW and calls Kohli, unaware her phone is bugged. When Kohli arrives, the man who killed Brandice holds her at gunpoint, while she makes the connection that head of the Corruption Investigation Unit, Kelman, had allowed access to her calls.

The gunman orders Liz to give up the drive, shooting Kohli when he tries to intervene. In the chaos, Liz takes the opportunity to make a dash for it. It's not long before Frankton sends her a video message of her unwell father in hospital, warning her to get in line or suffer the consequences.

Told to make her way to the McLellan house, Liz heads there where Frankton is waiting. Frankton confesses to everything - plotting everything Crowther was accused of and using his heroin smuggling domain to conceal his own arms trafficking.

With all Frankton's misgivings pinned on Crowther, he needs the only thing that could give him away - the thumb drive. As the pair fight for it, Wheatley and a team of armed officers arrive on the scene and Frankton is arrested.

Liz is also in hot water for breaking bail, but Wheatley lets her go - she's utterly shaken by everything that's happened and struggling to process it all. She later meets with Kelman who argues she and Brandice thought they were assisting British Intelligence and didn't realise they were involved in something illegal.

Liz wants the world to know the truth about Frankton, but is talked down from exposing him by Kelman, who doesn't believe anyone will benefit from the truth coming out. Kelman believes Frankton had covered up his crimes so well, it's actually unlikely anyone would believe Liz anyway.

At the end of the final episode, Brandice’s funeral takes place. Liz and a recovering Kohli attend together and he reveals he’s been promoted and given six months' leave in exchange for keeping his mouth shut.

Rick Bewley offers Liz the piece of information she really needs to move on - Brandice had everything he needed to know before their relationship began, he hadn't been using her at all, his love for her was all genuine.

Liz makes her way to Brandice's grave for her own private goodbye. Jas phones to ask if Liz believes in fresh starts, and as the episode comes to a conclusion, Liz bids Brandice farewell before leaving for home.