Gone on ITV: All the clues we have after episode 1 about Sarah Polly's disappearance and if her head teacher husband killed her
Michael Polly is definitely odd, but does that make him a killer?
Gone on ITV has been the most anticipated thriller to land on our screens this year so far, and episode 1 didn’t disappoint. But is Michael Polly hiding something? Here’s a recap of what happened.
Viewers met the “inscrutable headmaster” who returned home to find his wife Sarah was missing. But his face and actions displayed no ripple of concern whatsoever.
As the hours rolled on, he finally reported her disappearance to the police, where no-nonsense detective DS Annie Cassidy took on the case. Naturally, she was immediately perplexed by the apparent stoicism of the headmaster….
So what has happened to Sarah Polly, and was her husband Michael involved? Here’s all the evidence in our recap of crime drama Gone episode 1 on ITV.
***Warning: spoilers from Gone episode 1 in our recap ahead***
What happened in episode 1 of Gone?
In episode 1 of Gone we met impassive headmaster Michael Polly. To say the man was hard to like would be the understatement of the century. He seemed to show no emotion whatsoever when he discovered his music teacher wife Sarah was missing.
After coming home from posh private school Bartholomew’s, Michael and his daughter Alana realised Sarah was missing. And… Did nothing. They waited hours before alerting the police. Meanwhile, Michael continued to act like nothing at all was wrong.
When he finally reported her disappearance to the police, DS Annie Cassidy took on the case. And immediately saw Michael Polly as one huge walking flag. Come to think of it, even a flag would have more emotional range than Michael. Even a flag moves in the wind, right?
As DS Annie Cassidy and DC Becky Hammond began investigating, they had to ask why a woman with no apparent difficulties – apart from a super grumpy husband – would just walk out on her life?
At first, Sarah’s disappearance was classed low risk. After all, she was a “grown woman with no criminal record, no history of mental illness, and no addiction”. But, when her phone was found, the case was elevated to high risk.
All the clues we have in the disappearance of Sarah Polly
Here are all the clues ITV gave us as episode 1 played out.
- Firstly, we know that 52-year-old Sarah Polly had lunch with her daughter Alana at 12.15/12.30pm. Alana said her mum was “happy” and “popular” with people. However, she implied that Sarah didn’t really have friends, and that “everything has always been about dad”. Alarm bells, anyone?
- When Michael called his wife after discovering she wasn’t at home, he said aloud: “Come on my love, we can’t have this again.” Which implies it’s not the first time she has left or vanished.
- Her phone and laptop were both found at Sarah’s home. This means she either deliberately left home without them so she couldn’t be traced. Or she had no choice.
- Her daughter hid her mum’s journal entries. But why? To protect her mum’s privacy or to protect her dad from what was written in them?
- Sarah’s phone was switched off at 12.42pm, just after lunch with her daughter. But at 3.02pm, police found activity on her bank card. By this point, her bank card wasn’t in Bristol. A payment was made in a pub in South Wales, near Bridgend. Sarah – or someone using her contactless card – had bought cigarettes in a machine in the pub. But Sarah didn’t smoke, according to her husband. Crucially there was no record or trace of how she had got to the pub, if indeed it was her.
Gone ITV episode 1 recap: Is Michael Polly a villain?
DS Annie Cassidy put it perfectly when she summed up Michael Polly by calling him a “funny fish”. She continued: “Just because he’s the big balls at some posh school doesn’t mean it’s all roses at home. Probably the opposite. let’s be honest.”
It’s implied that Michael might be controlling. Something Annie knows all about because of her ex-husband who seems to have his claws in her.
ITV describe Michael as a “serious, emotionally inhibited man”. He is someone who insists hard work leads to individual success and who probably wishes he’d been educated at the type of school of which he is now headmaster. He prides himself on industriousness, and honour, but none of this makes him a particularly nice person.
As yet, he’s not exactly charmed us, but that doesn’t make him a villain. In the trailer for the thriller, viewers saw Michael insisting: “They want people to think it was me.” While his daughter is seen telling the police: “She was scared of him.”
However, crucially, Michael has an alibi. He was at a very public rugby match at the time Sarah’s disappearance was noticed. Although there might be a little wiggle room between his wife’s lunch and her disappearance.
Gone ITV episode 1 recap: Is Sarah dead and did Micheal kill his wife?
At the end of Gone episode 1, Michael Polly’s neighbour and dog walker Melody – or rather her dog – discovered something in the woods surrounding their house. She identified it as Sarah Polly’s coat.
As yet, we’ll have to wait until episode 2 to find out if it was just her abandoned coat, or if her body is lying there too. But actress Eve Myles lets slip that it becomes a murder case (see below). As Alice ran to the house to tell Michael what had been found, he sat in a chair in the lounge simply waiting. It almost felt like he knew something sinister was afoot.
Although we don’t (officially) know yet if Sarah is dead, or if Michael is responsible, he is certainly a very strange man. Of course, that does NOT make him a murderer. What is our gut telling us? This is an ITV thriller, which probably means the first suspect is not the killer!
Talking about Gone, actress Eve Myles – who plays Annie Cassidy – said: “The story is a deep psychological thriller set in and around a prestigious private school in Bristol, as well as the surrounding countryside and forests. We follow my character Annie Cassidy, who is quickly involved in a missing person’s case that turns out to be a murder. It’s a very deep, nuanced series about what makes us human. What is a ‘monster’ and what is ‘nature and nurture’.”
She continued: “The show really leans into the drama that happens within the house, within somebody’s life who’s also not only lost a wife and a mother under really horrendous circumstances, but is actually the number one suspect.”
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