After the Flood recap: How series 1 ended and what it means for series 2
There were more bent coppers than an episode of Line of Duty!
After the Flood series 2 is set one year after the events of series 1, so understandably some viewers might need a recap of what actually happened in the finale’s dramatic ending.
The new series sees PC Joanna Marshall separated from her husband Pat after the shocking revelation that he’d been in Sergeant Phil Mackie’s pocket, and taking bribes. Now, he wants to make amends by bringing Mackie down – even if it means going to jail.
It’s fair to say that some fans were left raging after After the Flood series 1 ended with a major cliffhanger in February 2024. In the final moments of the crime drama, Joanna confronted DS Phil Mackie (Nicholas Gleaves) in the hospital, just after she’d given birth to her baby daughter, Eve.
Viewers discovered that Mackie – Jo’s surrogate father figure after the death of her real dad – was corrupt and had blood on his hands (quite a bit actually). Here’s everything you need to know about the After the Flood series 1 in our handy recap to catch you up ahead of the new series…
***Warning: spoilers from the ending of After the Flood series 1 in our recap ahead***
What happened in After the Flood series 1?
After the Flood series 1 followed pregnant PC Joanna Marshall (Sophie Rundle in the cast) as she investigated the death of a man after a huge storm. His body was found in an underground car park lift after a devastating flood. Jo subsequently discovered the body was that of Daniel Eden.
A tireless copper, she wouldn’t stop until she found out the cause of his death. But she very quickly learnt that she wasn’t just hunting a killer. The murderer was one of her own. Not just a fellow police officer, but her very own Sergeant Phil Mackie. Her acting father figure after the death of her own dad Brendan Marshall, who had worked closely with Phil.
We discovered that Sergeant Phil Mackie was corrupt, and had long been accepting illegal payments while on the job. Not only that, Jo’s husband Pat – and father of her unborn baby – had been involved too.
By the end of series 1, viewers knew Sergeant Mackie was a corrupt policeman who’d manipulated Jo and Pat into silence. In series 2, a year later, Mackie still controls them. The big question is: what are they going to do about it?
Who killed Daniel Eden?
Sergeant Phil Mackie murdered Daniel Eden. And he wasn’t the only one complicit in the crime. There were several other police officers and eyewitnesses with him at the time.
On the night of his death, Daniel had met with Mackie and others to discuss a dodgy insurance scam. The scam involved Jack Radcliffe’s “stolen” farming equipment. The plan was that Daniel and Lee Ellison would oversee the shipment of it, with assistance from Mackie and Pat, who would ensure that there was no police interference. Although Pat’s brother-in-law Keith wasn’t present, he was also involved as he worked in the import and export business. Mackie subsequently set him up for the scam, and Keith is released from jail in series 2.
Basically, everyone present at the meeting was dodgy or on the take. During a row, Mackie had clobbered Daniel with a plank of wood after losing his temper with him. Daniel had made some offensive comments about Mackie’s wife Sarah – a local politician – and her affair with property developer Jack Radcliffe.
Mackie’s wife Sarah, property developer Jack, and Jo’s husband Pat were all present when Mackie killed Daniel. And they all agreed to cover it up – or were coerced to. There was one other person present when the murder took place. And that was Lee Ellison, played by Jonas Armstrong. He had a crucial role to play in After the Flood series 1, and ultimately became Jo’s key to discovering the killer.
After the Flood series 1 recap: Who was Lee Ellison and what happened to him?
Lee Ellison had previously been fostered by Mackie and his wife. And, because he felt indebted to him, he basically became his henchman.
Of course, Mackie jumped at the chance to make Lee do his dirty work – even making him commit murder for him (more on that below). A truly evil git, Mackie also planned to pin everything on Lee.
Lee died in a car crash in the closing minutes of After the Flood series 1. Jo was with him at the time, and very nearly died too. Luckily, Jo survived – as did her unborn baby who was born in the wreckage of the car. Crucially, before he died, Lee revealed the truth about Daniel Eden and Chris Robinson’s death.
Not letting the small matter of a birth get in the way of her pursuit of truth and justice, Jo confronted Mackie about his corruption. She told him: “You’re bent. You’re corrupt.”
But Mackie hissed: “If you break ranks and report anything to anyone, you’ll be pressing the self destruction button.”
After the Flood series 1 recap: What did Jo’s husband Pat do wrong?
Pat had also been “on the take” for years. Back when he was a young PC, Pat investigated a case involving a boy from a “good family” who had gotten himself into trouble. At the time, Mackie persuaded Pat to let the case go… And he later received a payment from the boy’s family. He told Jo that “and refusing it was not an option”.
And so, from then on, Pat was paid to look the other way. It was a lucrative deal – good for Pat’s bank balance if not for his conscience. Pat had more than £20,000 in a savings account.
Was Jo’s dad Brendan Marshall corrupt too?
Jo was devastated to learn that her beloved dad Brendan – aka Bren – had also played fast and loose with the rules. However, detective Bren had claimed to bend the rules when he wanted to “nail the ones who needed taking down”. Still corrupt, though, isn’t it?!
In After the Flood series 2, Jo attempts to learn more about the father’s role in Mackie’s long-running corruption. However, she doesn’t want her mum Molly, now Councillor for Waterside, to know.
Jo is shielding her mum from the revelations about Mackie and her dead father, Bren.
After the Flood series 1 recap: Who was Chris Robinson?
After killing Daniel Eden, Mackie and co cleaned the scene of the crime, and put Daniel’s body in the underground car park. They were hoping his death might be blamed on the tragic storms.
Later, the manager of the car park Chris Robinson was also murdered to shut him up. Although Mackie didn’t kill him, he’d ordered Lee Ellison to and to make it look like suicide.
Chris was also Jack’s former employee, who had just been fired from his job. So the timing of the ‘suicide’ looked believable.
Why hasn’t Jo reported Mackie?
Of course, Sergeant Phil Mackie wasn’t going to ‘fess up to his crimes in After the Flood series 1. Instead, he turned nasty on Jo – at the time a trainee detective.
Cornered, he threatened to ruin the lives of Jo and anyone close to her. She knew that if she reported Mackie for the death of Daniel Eden, then he’d take Jo’s husband Pat down with him.
Series 2 begins with Jo and Pat – now estranged – working together to gather enough evidence to bring Mackie down. As the new series starts, we find Phil Mackie one year on. He has managed to establish and maintain a tentative truce with Jo and Pat while maintaining his position at the heart of Waterside police station. Now separated from his wife Sarah, Phil is on his own, and a more desperate man now. He deeply fears being exposed and losing his position of power.
Although Mackie has protected himself, and managed to cover up what he did, he has no clue that Jo and Pat are working against him. Pat is doggedly pursuing some kind of comeuppance for Mackie. He wants closure. He wants Mackie to be punished for what he’s done…
Talking about his character, Nicholas Gleaves said: “In series 2, there’s ongoing difficulty for Mackie in covering up what happened in series one, and a whole different kind of crime starts to emerge. Very deep and dark corruption begins to surface, and we’ll see the extent of Mackie’s involvement.
What needs to happen in After the Flood series 2?
Talking about series 2, executive producer Nicola Shindler said: “Series 2 starts a year after the end of series 1. We are with Jo and Pat, who are now separated. And they are looking at investigating Mackie and working out how to bring Mackie down at the same time as saving themselves.”
As After the Flood series 2 begins, Jo has separated from Pat. Although she understands her husband was manipulated by Mackie, she struggles to forgive him for the lies that go all the way back to when they first met.
However, that doesn’t mean they still don’t make a good team. The pair are secretly compiling evidence against their colleague Phil Mackie. At the same time, they are having to pretend all is well as they work alongside him.
In a bid to make amends, and hopefully win Jo back, Pat is looking into Phil’s past cases, and anything dodgy they can hang on him. Pat’s worried he’s lost Jo for good, and still loves her as much as he ever did. Deeply regretting his cowardice and how he was coerced by Mackie, Pat loathes his weakness and would fall on his sword to protect Jo and ensure Mackie sees justice. Even if that means going to prison…
Meanwhile, Jo is investigating the murder of a man on the Moors. But her new case “brings her into direct conflict with powerful and influential forces within the town, ultimately drawing her into an investigation that becomes deeply personal. Yep, Mackie again.
Of course, series 2 viewers will want to see Pat and Jo bring Phil Mackie down once and for all – and hopefully get back together in the meantime.
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