The Tower II: Death Message episode 1 recap: enemies reunited

Grace Morris
·6 min read
Gemma Whelan as DS Sarah Collins in The Tower II: Death Message episode 1
Gemma Whelan as DS Sarah Collins in The Tower II: Death Message episode 1

The Tower II: Death Message episode 1 saw old faces return to solve gripping new cases.

Based on the second book in Kate London’s Metropolitan series of novels, The Tower season 2 picked up from the aftermath of the Portland Tower incident.

DS Sarah Collins (Gemma Whelan) has moved on to pastures new and has joined Homicide Command. She throws herself into a cold case investigating the disappearance of a schoolgirl who vanished 26 years ago.

But Sarah’s investigations soon take a twist that leads to an unpleasant reunion with rival PC Lizzie Adama (Tahirah Sharif), who has been working on a domestic violence case.

From intense interrogations to shocking evidence, here are the key moments from The Tower II: Death Message...

Old faces and new cases

Gemma Whelan as DS Sarah Collins.
Gemma Whelan as DS Sarah Collins.

The Tower II: Death Message episode one opens with DS Sarah Collins and DI Kieran Shaw (Emmett J Scanlan) testifying at PC Lizzie Adama's hearing about her misconduct at the Portland Tower incident.

Sarah joins Homicide Command where her new team are in the midst of trying to track down the culprit behind a chicken shop shooting.

However, her formidable boss DCI Jim Fedden (Stuart McQuarrie) keeps Sarah away from the action and assigns her to work on a cold case of missing school girl Tania Mills, who disappeared in 1997.

Jim tells her that there's been a new lead on the case, with a prisoner at Thameside claiming to know what happened to Tania. However, she's distracted when she discovers that her former work partner DS Steve Bradshaw (Jimmy Akingbola) is also working at Homicide Command leading the chicken shop shooting investigation.

With young DC Lee Coutts (Bobby Lockwood) already making headway with inquiries, Sarah is left to trace the missteps of the last police investigation and meets her grumpy new partner DS Elaine Lucas (Ella Smith). The SIO of the investigation Paul Stokes, also meets Sarah to help assist with the case and track Tania's last movements the day she went missing on Princess Diana's funeral.

Tahirah Sharif as PC Lizzie Adama.
Tahirah Sharif as PC Lizzie Adama.

Meanwhile, after being cleared of misconduct, Lizzie returns to Farlow Police Station, hoping to prove she can be a good cop and her colleagues celebrate her return.

Having put their affair behind them, Lizzie and her boss Kieran try to keep things professional, but their mutual attraction still remains.

Kieran partners Lizzie with PC Arif Johar (Michael Karim), who are both called to a domestic violence complaint involving Georgina Teel (Rosa Coduri) and her boyfriend Matt Brannon (Charley Palmer Rothwell). However when they arrive at the scene, Lizzie is still traumatised by what happened at Portland Tower as she sees the building in the distance.

Lizzie meets Georgina and Matt's six year old daughter Skye and their injured dog Candy. Suspicious of Georgina's friend, who refuses to name herself and tells her that she is there to support Georgina, Lizzie makes her leave the property so that she can talk to Georgina in private.

Lizzie then convinces Georgina to tell the truth about what Mark has done to her, allowing Lizzie and Arif to arrest him.

A new lead

Stuart McQuarrie as Jim Fedden, Bobby Lockwood as DC Lee Coutts and Gemma Whelan as DS Sarah Collins
Stuart McQuarrie as Jim Fedden, Bobby Lockwood as DC Lee Coutts and Gemma Whelan as DS Sarah Collins

Sarah meets Tania's mum, Claire Mills (Niamh Cusack), who is still hopeful that her daughter will return home. Sarah sympathizes with Claire and opens up about her own tragedy of how her sister died in a car crash when she was young.

Later on, Sarah goes to speak to Tania's friend Robert McCarthy, who was a previous suspect in the teen's disappearance after she changed clothes in his hut at the park.

Sarah questions him about his friendship with Tania and she's left stunned when he gives her crucial new information that the police failed to ask him about.

After telling her about seeing Tania arguing with a man on the day she disappeared, Sarah wastes no time chasing this vital new lead.

At Homicide Command, a new lead points to murder and offers up convicted sex offender Ray Walker (Brian McCardie) as the prime suspect. However, Sarah has her doubts and teams up with Elaine to follow the new line of inquiry by getting her to investigate the car that the mysterious man was seen driving.

Despite Sarah's protests, armed police storm Ray's house and arrest him on suspicion of murdering Tania.

Intense interrogations

Charley Palmer Rothwell as Mark Brannon wearing a hoodie and jacket.
Charley Palmer Rothwell as Mark Brannon wearing a hoodie and jacket.

After Matt's arrest, Lizzie is called into court as she has been accused of putting undue pressure on Georgina to testify against Matt.

Lizzie is hung out to dry and interrogated about what she said to Georgina to get information out of her, with the court claiming that Lizzie scared Georgina into testifying by threatening to get her child taken away.

Matt is able to walk free and get away with his crimes, leaving Lizzie furious as she watches Matt reunite with Georgina and Skye.

Elsewhere, Sarah and Lee interrogate Ray, who denies knowing or ever meeting Tania. The officers question him on his vile fantasies about Tania and he graphically reveals the disgusting details from his depraved mind, before denying any involvement in her murder.

Back at Homicide Command, the team celebrates finding the chicken shop shooter while Sarah is criticized by her boss for letting Ray walk free despite not having any evidence against him.

Scolded by Jim's demand to put Ray's face out to the public, there's still no love lost between Sarah and her old friend Steve as they have a sour exchange.

At Farlow Police Station, Matt confronts Lizzie in the car park and menacingly reassures her that he loves Georgina and will be a good father to Skye.

A new romance?

Julie Woodson touches Sarah Collins arm at the supermarket.
Julie Woodson touches Sarah Collins arm at the supermarket.

Sarah bumps into Portland Tower victim Farah Mehenni’s teacher Julie Woodson (Camilla Beeput) at her local supermarket. But as Julie asks her about Farah's circumstances, Sarah is unable to talk about the case and shuts her down.

Picking up on how uncomfortable Sarah looks, Julie offers for them to talk about something else and gives Sarah her number.

Sarah goes back to Homicide Command and gives the cameras found at Ray's flat to Elaine to get them checked for fingerprints and DNA of Tania.

An unwelcome reunion

PC Lizzie Adama wearing a bracelet and posing in her police uniform.
PC Lizzie Adama wearing a bracelet and posing in her police uniform.

Sarah puts her team up for a murder case, where she and Elaine are met with a gruesome crime scene and a woman who has been brutally killed in her home.

Sarah sees a smashed picture frame of the victim with a young girl, revealing the murder victim as Georgina. At Farlow Station, Lizzie is informed that Matt has killed Georgina and Skye has gone missing.

Outside the crime scene, Elaine tells Sarah that Matt was in custody for assault just 48 hours ago, but was released due to the girlfriend's evidence being unreliable thanks to an officer "screwing up."

Sarah is thrown when she discovers that the officer in question is in fact Lizzie and she's far from happy when she crosses paths with her enemy again.

The Tower II: Death Message airs on ITV1 and ITVX on Monday, August 28 to Thursday, August, 31 at 9pm.