The Blame continues on ITV1 tonight at 9pm, with Michelle Keegan’s DI Emma Crane now getting dangerously close to the truth behind Sophie Madsen’s murder. Episode 5 is the penultimate instalment of the six-part drama, with the finale airing tomorrow night. So, with the investigation moving quickly and plenty still unresolved, here’s where things stand before tonight’s episode.

Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for Episodes 1 to 4 of The Blame.

The series began with Emma Crane and DI Tom Radley investigating the murder of 16-year-old figure skater Sophie Madsen in the fictional town of Wakestead. Emma and Tom’s investigation soon exposed allegations of misconduct inside Wakestead Police Station, alongside growing evidence that Sophie had uncovered something dangerous before her death.

Tom became a major suspect after evidence appeared to link him to Sophie, but that case has started to fall apart. There was no digital connection between them, Sophie’s DNA was not found on his clothes, and Tom has insisted that Sophie approached him because she had uncovered an abuse of power within the station. He is still facing serious consequences for other decisions he made during the investigation, but Emma is increasingly convinced he did not kill Sophie.

Episode 4 pushed the case in a much darker direction. Emma and DC Lewis Brimah began looking into the possibility that a serial predator has been operating from within Wakestead Police, targeting vulnerable women who had previously come into contact with the station. Emma spoke to Kacy Denson and Marissa Andrei, who both described disturbingly similar experiences. Each had reported incidents to police, later received contact from someone claiming they wanted to help, then met at a bar before waking the next morning with no memory of what had happened. That left Emma facing the possibility that someone inside Wakestead has been using their position to identify and target women.

The investigation also brought Sophie’s skating coach Kyle Frasier back into focus after CCTV showed him close to her shortly before her death. He admitted taking Sophie’s bag during an argument, but said he only wanted her attention and claimed she had been carrying papers which she quickly grabbed before running away. That detail proved important, with Emma and Lewis realising Sophie may have printed evidence rather than keeping it digitally.

Their search eventually led them to Sophie’s home printer, where Emma recovered images showing three unconscious women who appeared to have been drugged. One of them was Amber Dodds, and that discovery brought another devastating realisation for Emma: Stanley Vogel, the man convicted in Amber’s case, may have been innocent.

Emma ended Episode 4 telling Tom, “It was never Stanley Vogel. I put an innocent man in prison.”

That leaves a lot hanging over tonight’s episode. Emma is now trying to identify Sophie’s killer, uncover the serial predator inside Wakestead Police and deal with the consequences of a previous case that may have sent the wrong man to prison. At the same time, the IOPC investigation into the station is continuing, and the culture inside Wakestead is coming under closer scrutiny.

According to the official synopsis, Episode 5 will see a suspect brought in for questioning, with Emma turning to an unlikely ally in an attempt to move one step closer to Sophie’s killer. Then tomorrow night’s finale will reveal the identity of the serial abuser before another clue forces Emma into a final confrontation.

Michelle Keegan has already teased that viewers are unlikely to see the ending coming, saying she does not know anyone who would guess the final reveal. Given how many different suspects and theories The Blame has already thrown into the mix, that is a pretty bold promise with only two episodes left.

For CultureCues, this has become one of those dramas where every new piece of evidence seems to open up another question. The serial predator investigation has completely changed what we thought Sophie may have uncovered, and that final discovery about Amber and Stanley Vogel has left Emma with even more to deal with heading into tonight. With Episode 5 tonight and the finale tomorrow, we are very ready to find out who has actually been hiding in plain sight at Wakestead.

The Blame Episode 5 airs tonight at 9pm on ITV1, with the finale following tomorrow night.

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