The Tower II: Death Message episode 3 recap — Sarah makes a devastating discovery
The Tower II: Death Message episode 3 is packed full of drama, as DS Sarah Collins (Gemma Whelan) and PC Lizzie Adama (Tahirah Sharif) continue their desperate search to catch a killer and track down a missing girl who disappeared 25 years ago.
Their paths to justice are not easy, with obstacles holding them back at every corner. But after grappling with a mole in the police, a lying suspect and a potential crime scene, Sarah makes a harrowing discovery that changes everything from the last 25 years.
Here are the key moments from The Tower II: Death Message episode 3...
The killer goes viral
The Tower II: Death Message episode 3 opens with DI Kieran Shaw (Emmett J Scanlan) asking DS Steve Bradshaw (Jimmy Akingbola) to join his task force in taking down London gangster king Shakiel Oliver.
An unimpressed Steve questions Kieran on the whereabouts of Farah Mehenni's phone from the Portland Tower incident. When he fails to answer, Steve asks Kieran another uncomfortable question — if he is still having an affair with Lizzie.
Steve orders Kieran to find someone else as he doesn't trust him, leaving Kieran high and dry as he rushes off to attend an emergency call from DCI Jim Fedden (Stuart McQuarrie).
At Homicide Command, the team are reeling when murder suspect Matt Brannon's (Charley Palmer Rothwell) YouTube video goes viral. The team are at a loss in trying to get any sightings of Matt and his daughter Skye and struggling to get the video taken down, which is wracking up nearly a million views.
Meanwhile, Sarah informs Jim that another suspect in the Tania Mills case has come to light, pointing away from the original suspect Ray Walker (Brian McCardie).
Elsewhere, PC Colin Ryle (Jack Shalloo) and PC Arif Johar (Michael Karim) get into a heated confrontation after Colin sympathises with Matt's actions and criticises the police.
Putting out the fire between the furious co-workers, Kieran tasks Lizzie and Arif to pay a visit to Cathy Teel (Tamzin Outhwaite) and reassure her that they're getting Matt's video taken down.
Sarah tells her boss Jim all about Adrian Stephenson, the new suspect from Tania’s past who has emerged in the investigation. As DC Elaine Lucas (Ella Smith) goes on to investigate Adrian further, there's a breakthrough when the team discovers that Matt has been in contact with his friend Marley Daniels and was spotted on CCTV buying the burner phone.
A familiar alliance
With Marley lying about her contacts with Matt, Sarah and her old partner Steve team up to try and get Marley on side.
As Sarah and Steve prepare to interview Marley, Steve admits that Kieran has offered him another job to take down Shakiel Oliver. Sarah shows concern for her friend, warning him to take care about working with Kieran and going undercover. It seems the pair are on track to making amends since their fallout.
Initially, Marley remains fiercely loyal to Matt, but eventually confesses that Matt may be with some friends he used to work with as his phone pinged on the M6.
But when Marley reveals that she'll tell Steve and Sarah the names of his friends if they drop all the charges against her, the vigilant duo soon catch on to Marley's lies.
Steve warns Marley that if Skye dies due to her failure in assisting the police, she'll be complicit in child murder. This harrowing realisation soon forces Marley to confess her role in the crime — that the phone was a ruse and Matt had got someone else to call. She would then give up the names of Matt's associates in Liverpool, so that the police would end up chasing their tails while Matt remained in the city the whole time.
Sarah and Steve decide to go along with the ruse in a bid to catch out Matt and Sarah suggests that Lizzie take Cathy on a cruise around her old junkie haunts to turn up a potential location for Matt’s hideout.
At Farlow, Colin apologises to Lizzie and Arif about his earlier behaviour, but a suspicious Lizzie questions if he knows Matt personally as she noticed Colin calling him Matt when he cuffed him in holding. Colin denies knowing him, but it's clear that he's hiding something.
Crime scene
Sarah jumps back onto the Tania Mills case as it's been revealed that Tania's dad, Ben Mills is threatening to go to the press over Ray's release.
She visits Ben who is certain that Adrian had an improper relationship with Tania. Despite there being no evidence, Ben reveals that he came to the conclusion because of Tania's worrying behaviour.
Kieran once again tries to persuade Steven into working on the Shakiel Oliver case, but Steven refuses as the three years he was an undercover cop ruined his marriage.
Sarah’s investigation into Tania’s former violin teacher Adrian draws the ire of his powerful lawyers, who threaten legal action. Jim tells Sarah to back off, but Sarah and Elaine show him evidence that suggests Adrian might be a serial predator.
What’s more, Sarah has an idea where Tania’s body might be buried and wants to dig up the Princess Diana Memorial Garden planted by Adrian in Morville Park three days after Tania went missing.
Soon enough, a suspicious finding leads to the excavation becoming a harrowing crime scene as Tania's helpless mother Claire (Niamh Cusack) watches on.
However, the crime scene turns out to be a dead end as the remains they find do not belong to Tania. A furious Claire blasts Sarah for being wrong about Adrian and Tania's potential death.
Police corruption
While Sarah deals with a crime scene, Steven and Lizzie join forces to take Cathy on a drive around her former stomping ground when she was an addict.
After a run-in with a delivery driver, Lizzie can't help her suspicions and Steven pulls over to question the cyclist about who he had just delivered to. The aggravated man initially has no interest in helping the police, until he reluctantly gives them the food order delivered instead.
With the information pointing to Matt and Skye, Steven chases after the delivery driver and manages to track drown Matt's hideout.
A specialist unit is brought in to do the take-down. But Matt is one step ahead and has already fled the scene thanks to a tip off by someone inside the police.
Soon enough, Arif exposes the mole as Colin and both he and Lizzie arrest him while he was waiting to meet Matt.
Matt’s sympathiser is caught, but the police are no closer to catching him. In fact his whereabouts are even more twisted than they could have imagined as he breaks into Lizzie’s flat.
Lizzie spends the night with Kieran, unaware of what is waiting for her at home. The next morning, Kieran asks Lizzie to join him on his new case.
A traumatic discovery
After failing to find Tania's body and catching Matt, this comes as a devastating blow for both of Sarah's cases.
Attempting to distract herself, Sarah calls Julie Woodson, Farah Mehenni’s old teacher.
But their drink is interrupted by something Sarah sees on her laptop. She realises she may have been wrong about where Tania was buried, but only by a hundred yards.
She calls up Jim to tell him that the council dug up the car park to put in drains at exactly the same time Adrian was making his Diana memorial.
In a tragic turn of events, Sarah makes a devastating discovery and finds Tania's remains after 25 years.
The Tower II: Death Message airs on ITV1 and ITVX on Monday, August 28 to Thursday, August, 31 at 9pm.
