waking the dead series 8

Episode 2: Magdalene 26 (Part 2)

Boyd and his Cold Case team continue its investigation as the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth Andrews’ abduction end up in the newspapers. Seeing this prompts someone from Elizabeth’s past to track her down to the hospital. Elizabeth remains oblivious to the visitor’s arrival, but PC Howard witnesses the abduction of Elizabeth’s visitor at the hospital entrance.

Boyd, meanwhile, soon works out that the woman who was bundled into the car is the key to the Cold Case, not Elizabeth, and that the kidnappers actually want money from Elizabeth as payback from a failed investment made by her lover. As Elizabeth is the only one who can access the money, time is running out to save this unidentified person from her past.

Elsewhere, Eve discovers that the body in the lab cannot be Elizabeth’s husband, Tony, who is, in fact, alive and also being held captive by the kidnappers. Boyd, enlisting Spence and PC Howard’s help, finally brings to an end the kidnappers’ reign of terror. When he eventually manages to visit Stella in hospital, however, he receives some devastating news.

Episode 3: End Of The Night (Part 1)

In 1997, two men raped a young woman, Gemma Morrison, as her younger brother was held captive. When the ordeal was over, the attackers threw them both off a bridge. Gemma’s brother was killed but, miraculously, she survived. The rapists were never caught. Twelve years on, Gemma’s lack of closure following this attack leads her to drunkenly attempt suicide on the eve of her 30th birthday.

After finding a note from Gemma on the back of his business card in her crashed car, Boyd decides to reopen the case, despite there being no new evidence. Spencer struggles to comprehend Boyd’s decision and motive, and questions whether he has outgrown the Cold Case squad.

With the help of forensic insight from Eve, the Cold Case team has a breakthrough. This was not a random incident, but a calculated attack by the two men. Boyd crosses the line while investigating this lead, but his illegal methods provide the squad with a name – Jason Bloch. The identity of the other rapist remains unknown.

The police visit Bloch at the college where he is the caretaker, and ask him to take a DNA test the following day. Bloch knows his time is up and, suspecting that this is his last evening of freedom, pays a visit to his accomplice, the second rapist from 12 years ago. Bloch tells him to take care of his disabled wife and, should he refuse, vital evidence linking the other man to the crime scene (which he has secretly kept all these years) will be handed over to the police.

Episode 4: End Of The Night (Part 2)

Boyd’s team interviews rapist Jason Bloch, who lets slip that his accomplice was “just a kid”. This vital clue prompts the team to open up a new line of investigation. When Eve returns from Bloch’s college with a photograph album, Kat discovers a picture of him with an unknown pupil, whom they identify as James Mitcham.

Boyd and Grace visit Mitcham at his home. Mitcham’s young daughter reveals a man fitting Bloch’s description had recently visited their house in the middle of the night. Boyd is sure that Mitcham is the second rapist, but does not have enough evidence to arrest him yet.

Gemma positively identifies the photograph of Mitcham as the second rapist. However, Boyd is forced to suspend all enquiries due to his illegal methods of producing the suspect’s name. Meanwhile, Spencer feels that he has outgrown the Cold Case Unit and turns to an old friend for a way out.

Driven to despair by the halt in proceedings, Gemma cannot wait for Bloch and Mitcham to be brought to justice and decides to take matters into her own hands. She kidnaps Mitcham’s daughter, then arranges to meet Mitcham at the same bridge he had thrown her from more than a decade ago. Boyd races to the bridge, but is not prepared for the grizzly scene that greets him there...

Episode 5: Substitute (Part 1)

Two years ago, Briony Havers was murdered but, due to the lack of evidence, the case went cold.
Eve has become romantically involved with an aid worker, Stefan Koscinski, but when he lies to her about bruises on his chest, made by bullets hitting a bullet-proof vest, she becomes suspicious of her new lover.

After Eve links his DNA back to the Havers case, she approaches Boyd with the information. Unable to launch an investigation due to a conflict of interest, Boyd is still keen to support Eve and wants to help her to uncover the truth. However, the rest of the team remains sceptical.

Stefan’s DNA may be linked to the crime scene, but he is considered a hero for saving a passenger on a ferry that met with disaster. The passenger was Olena Kuzmich, an illegal immigrant who has since disappeared. Boyd begins to suspect that Stefan may be smuggling Eastern European people into the United Kingdom.

Antagonism develops between Boyd and Eve. The more he suspects Stefan, the more she wants to prove his innocence. To learn more, Eve visits Olena’s old workplace (a closed hospital), where she finds a pristine operating theatre. Before she can investigate further, she is knocked unconscious.

Meanwhile, Spencer investigates the place where Olena was last seen alive. His disturbing discovery of a chained man who has had some of his organs harvested while still alive means there are potentially horrific repercussions for a vulnerable Eve.

Episode 6: Substitute (Part 2)

Eve finds herself chained and imprisoned by Briony’s ex-boyfriend, Michael Devlin, who intends to force Eve to donate her organs, with a reluctant Stefan acting as the surgeon.

The Cold Case team arrives at the disused hospital in time to find Stefan and Eve trying to escape. Boyd questions Stefan again, who is adamant that he did not kill Olena or Briony, claiming that he only took organs from willing donors.

A frustrated Eve tries to get a confession from Stefan by tricking him into admitting that he had targetted her as his lover. Their personal relationship would mean any evidence she found would be inadmissible in Court. However, Stefan is one step ahead. Discovering her plan, he smashes her recording device. Afraid of what he might do next, Eve attempts to escape by walking into a lake. Despite his fear of the water, Stefan follows.

Devlin arrives at the lake, swiftly followed by Boyd and his team. Spencer plunges into the water to save Stefan from drowning. Knowing he doesn’t have a case, Boyd then leaves Stefan to his fate, shivering and pathetic on the bank of the lake. As the Cold Case team drives away, leaving Stefan and Devlin behind, they hear a gunshot...

Episode 7: Endgame (Part 1)

Boyd receives a horrific message from his old adversary, sociopathic killer Linda Cummings. Boyd had Linda committed to Padworth Psychiatric Hospital in the last series, and her message arrives in the form of a package containing a severed finger with an engagement ring on it. There is also a note asking: “Who killed Sandra White?”

The team discovers that Sandra was released from Padworth two years ago, never to be heard of again. This is not the only suspicious event at the hospital; a member of staff, Dr McCarthy, was found dead in his office a year ago.

Grace is uneasy about Boyd taking on the investigation, but personal commitments force her to hand over her involvement in the case to Jackie Cochran, an eminent criminal psychologist who has widely researched Linda’s case.

The team discovers that Dr McCarthy was murdered. Meanwhile, Linda plays her usual mind games with Boyd. She does, however, lead the team to Ellen, who witnessed something unusual the night Sandra disappeared.

Later, Eve finds a body with a missing finger, buried in the hospital’s grounds.

As Boyd becomes increasingly frustrated with the case, he endeavours to contact Grace. After numerous failed attempts to call her, Eve reveals that Grace is in hospital and has cancer. Boyd rushes to her bedside, but it transpires Grace is in more danger than the team could ever imagine...

Episode 8: Endgame (Part 2)

Boyd and the team pursue the murder investigations of Sandra White and Dr McCarthy, in this gripping final episode of the popular police drama.

Linda Cumming’s mission to prove Boyd is capable of murder has led her to engineer the entire investigation – the Cold Case team and the hospital staff are merely puppets in her plan.

Linda’s lover, Ellen, is taken off her medication to aid the investigation and the final piece of Linda’s scheme falls into place. Ellen has a psychotic episode, which results in a riot in Padworth. In the ensuing chaos, Linda locks herself in the control room at the hospital.

With the hospital and its inhabitants now under Linda’s control, she traps prime suspect Dr Mohammed and Dave Neil, Sandra’s fiancé, in a room together. While Dave attacks Mohammed, Linda escapes from the hospital.

Linda takes Grace hostage from her sick bed. When Boyd finds out, Jackie Cochran is forced to confess that she had told Linda that Grace would be in hospital when she had interviewed Linda for a book she was writing.

Linda tells Boyd that he must follow her instructions if Grace is to be freed. Following Linda’s commands, Boyd must revisit the last place he saw his son alive. As Boyd comes face to face with his son’s killer, Linda continues to call the shots. Trapped in an impossible situation, Boyd is told by Linda that he must kill the woman who murdered his son, or Grace will be killed instead.