Hollington Drive has reached its dramatic conclusion, and viewers have finally discovered who killed Alex Boyd – but wasn’t it obvious from the beginning?
The four-part Sophie Petzal drama about secrets and lies in suburbia had a cast to die for, and a bunch of characters who were virtually ALL hiding something.
But, in a climatic episode four, viewers were shown the killed of Alex Boyd via a series of flashbacks.
Was anyone really surprised when the killer was revealed to be headteacher Helen?
***Warning: spoilers from Hollington Drive episode four ahead***
Read more: Hollington Drive: Six burning questions episode two must address
Who killed Alex Boyd in Hollington Drive?
Viewers discovered the identity of Alex Boyd’s killer in episode four of Hollington Drive.
And, surprise, surprise (not), it was Helen.
We’re not saying it wasn’t a great reveal – that car crash with the flying glass and slow-mo action deserves its own BAFTA.
And the acting was sublime.
More dramas starring Rachael Stirling and Anna Maxwell Martin as co-dependent sisters please ITV!
But hadn’t we all guessed that Helen was the killer? And that it had probably been some sort of accident?
Flashbacks showed us that Alex had discovered Helen’s affair with his dad, and threatened to expose them.
He filmed Helen sneaking out of the house on his phone and, in her attempts to snatch the device off him, she banged his head against a wall.
After accidentally killing him, Helen made the split decision to cover up the murder.
So what were the clues it was Helen all along?
Clue one that Helen was the killer – she was the head
Helen (Rachael Stirling) was the least likely suspect from the minute the credits rolled on episode one.
She was the headteacher of the local school and a pillar of the community.
She appeared calm in a crisis and always seemed to keep as cool as a cucumber no matter the circumstances.
That alone made our detective antenna twitch.
Isn’t the first rule of an ITV crime drama that the killer is usually the person who you least suspect?
From episode one, all eyes were on erratic and nervy Theresa and her son Ben.
But really it was obviously Helen we should have been watching!
Helen was in a position of power, and able to destroy evidence and sway public opinion.
Read more: Where is Hollington Drive filmed? Is it a real street and how much do houses cost there?
Hollington Drive killer clue two – Helen had motive
Helen’s daughter Eva was being bullied by Alex, and that’s a pretty firm motive.
Also, Helen was having an affair with Alex’s dad Gareth.
Readers, I give you motive number two.
Of course, we’d been told that Alex liked to make films – so it didn’t take a genius to suspect inquisitive Alex might have caught Helen and Gareth at it.
After all, they were hardly being discreet!
Even after Alex’s death, they met on public streets where anybody could have seen them!
Viewers already knew that Helen’s career and reputation meant a great deal to her – at the expense of her marriage.
So it makes sense that she would do anything to stop the truth about their affair coming out.
Clue three that Helen was Alex Boyd’s killer – she lied a LOT
Helen lied to her sister about Alex bullying Eva, and even deleted evidence which could have implicated her daughter in Alex’s murder.
That’s perverting the course of justice for starters!
Hollington Drive’s Helen was shown to be clearly capable of lying and consistently stopped her sister going to the police.
Helen’s behaviour was controlling, cold-hearted and manipulative.
Her coercive relationship with her sister Theresa (Anna Maxwell Martin) showed that.
Hollington Drive killer – clue four that Helen murdered Alex
Helen’s relationship with husband David was another killer clue (pardon the pun).
Behind closed doors, Helen and David appeared to despise each other.
Did he know something that we viewers didn’t?
He had sacrificed his career for hers, while she made little effort to hide her affair and talked to him like he was a five year old.
Surely the behaviour of a mean woman capable of covering up a murder?
In a tragic twist, David attempted suicide in episode three.
Meanwhile, Fraser didn’t seem to like his sister-in-law much either.
In fact, he called her a “preening, manipulative [bleep]”.
If her own family knew she was capable of being a super-scheming cow, then surely it wasn’t a huge leap to think she was capable of murder?
At the end of episode four, viewers saw Helen in jail where she belonged, while Theresa was free of her forever.
Hollington Drive series one is now available to watch on the ITV Hub.
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