Riot Women ending explained: If Kitty ended up in jail, and the fate of the punk rock band
The series ending will have you laughing and crying all at the same time
Riot Women has come to a bittersweet ending, and it had a LOT to live up to after the huge success of creator Sally Wainwright’s other shows like Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley.
But boy, did Sally deliver the goods once again. The six-part series saw five middle-aged women form a punk band. What started out initially as a joke for a talent contest soon turned out to be a lifeline for the women. One they didn’t even know they needed.
As they bonded over their shared love of music, it wasn’t just singing ABBA covers that brought them together.
As well as navigating failed relationships, demanding children and dependent aging parents, two of the main characters, Beth and Kitty, discovered they shared a connection so shocking it threatened to tear the entire group apart.
Here’s everything that happened in the Riot Women ending on BBC One.
*** Warning: spoilers for the Riot Women ending below***
What were the key plot points in the Riot Women ending?
Riot Women started in a dark place. Beth, a lonely mum of one, planned to take her own life. Thankfully, she was ‘saved’ at the last minute when her friend Jess called her – oblivious to what she had just interrupted – and asked her to join a band.
From that moment onwards, Beth’s life was anything but quiet when she met her new band mates. As well as Jess, the band also included local retired police officer, Holly, and her midwife sister, Yvonne.
Then there was loose cannon Kitty, who Beth met after hearing her singing one night in a local pub. All five women came together and started writing their own songs – unbeknownst to the fact that their lives were already intertwined. But, things weren’t always easy.
Each of the women had so much more than just the menopause to worry about. They were also juggling parents, partners, kids, teenagers, siblings, soggy bottoms, and everything in between.
However, Kitty, the lead singer of the band, was harbouring the darkest secret of all. It was subsequently revealed that she and Beth shared more than just friendship.
What was Beth and Kitty’s unexpected connection?
One evening after band rehearsals, Beth told the other women in the pub about her grown up son, Tom, who she adopted as a newborn baby.
But Kitty was keeping a secret, too. She’d had a letter telling her that the son she gave up for adoption over 30 years ago was trying to get in touch…
As Beth talked about Tom’s age and the hospital she collected him from, the penny dropped. Yes, Tom was the son that Kitty gave up years ago. However, there was more to this dark twist to come.
Did Kitty tell Beth the truth about Tom?
It was revealed that Kitty had a horrendous and traumatic childhood, which resulted in her being abused and pregnant at just 12 years old. At first Kitty couldn’t bear to tell Beth the truth and decided to run away from it all.
However, eventually, she plucked up the courage to tell Beth about her past. Although stunned by the coincidence, Beth accepted the news that Kitty was her son’s birth mother. In fact, it brought the friends closer than ever.
Next there was the small matter of telling Tom. But seeing as he wouldn’t answer his messages from Beth, the two women were forced to break the news to him over the most awkward Sunday lunch in history.
Obviously, the news was a complete shock. Especially as Kitty wasn’t the warm, nurturing mum Tom was expecting to meet. Understandably, it took a while for Tom to warm to Kitty. Especially when Kitty punched Tom’s father-in-law after he made an explicit comment!
Tom thought Kitty was taking advantage of Beth’s kind nature and looked down on her without actually getting to know her. It didn’t help that Kitty was the daughter of a notorious organised crime gang leader. So when Tom listened to a crime podcast about the Eckersley family, he lumped Kitty in with her criminal relatives.
Did Tom eventually warm to Kitty?
Eventually, Kitty opened up to Tom about her horrific childhood and how she fell pregnant with him. Although it was hard for him to hear, Tom finally began to understand his mum’s point of view.
The change in their relationship came when Tom unexpectedly turned up to support Kitty at her court hearing. He introduced himself to her solicitor as her son, leaving her surprised and pleased.
One thing Tom and Kitty shared – aside from their DNA, of course – was their deep love for Beth.
Riot Women ending: What happened to Nisha?
Nisha was Holly’s former colleague in the police. She found herself subjected to sexual harassment at work at the hands of corrupt copper, Alec Rudenko, who everyone called Rudy.
We learned early on that Rudy was a shady character after he stole cash from the purse of Holly’s elderly mother. Later, Alec sexually assaulted Nisha at work when he grabbed her inappropriately.
After Nisha confided in her, Holly tried to do the right thing by reporting Rudy to her superior at work, who also happened to be her ex-husband.
But, Holly’s attempts to help ended up costing Nisha later in the series. In episode four, Nisha was targeted by racist thugs who attacked her. They left her bleeding, unconscious and strung up to some railings in a dark alleyway with her trousers around her ankles.
What did Rudy to do Nisha?
Unfortunately for Nisha, the officer who found her was vile Rudy. He used the opportunity to get his revenge on Nisha. Hetook explicit photos of her before uncuffing her from the railings and letting her fall to the ground, causing her to fracture her pelvis and break her collarbone.
After what were some of the most shocking scenes of the series, Nisha ended up fighting for her life in hospital. Luckily, she survived, and was left deeply traumatised by the whole ordeal.
At first, Nisha blamed Holly for what happened because she was the one who reported Rudy in the first place. But Holly made amends in the final episode by giving Nisha all the evidence that proved Rudy was a corrupt officer.
By the end of the series, Nisha was armed with everything that she needed to report Rudy… But we didn’t get to find out if she actually went through with it. Something for a series 2 perhaps? See more on that below.
Riot Women ending: What caused Kitty to go off the rails?
When we first met Kitty, she was on one hell of a bender. She was stealing vodka and kitchen knives from her local supermarket, and downing paracetamol in the pharmacy aisle.
In the end, the police were called and it was Holly and Nisha who turned up to arrest her. That was, in fact, the first time they had ever met Kitty.
It later turned out that Kitty was in a bad way because she’d discovered her boyfriend, Gavin, lied about leaving his wife. He’d also got his mates to rough Kitty up and throw her out of his flat. She later went to his house and trashed his car with a sledgehammer – something she was eventually arrested for thanks to vile Rudy again. Kitty faced going back to prison.
Viewers will know that Kitty had been in and out of prison for dealing drugs and causing criminal damage over the years.
At one point Kitty went back to Gavin as she needed somewhere to live. She hoped that if they got back together he would drop the charges against her. However, Kitty soon realised that men like Gavin don’t change.
When he found out that she’d told the police about his abuse, he beat her black and blue – again.
Did Kitty go to jail?
Thankfully, Beth was on hand once again to pick up the pieces after Kitty was beaten by Gavin. She persuaded Kitty to go to the police, something that eventually paid off when she went to court for her hearing in the Riot Women ending.
Kitty expected to go to jail for six months but was told that the case had been dismissed as Gavin was no longer a credible witness.
She was stunned. Especially as things didn’t usually work out in her favour, Kitty then walked free, avoiding going back to jail.
Did the band stay together?
While the band was a lifeline for each of the women, their path to success was a rocky one. At first they were all finding their feet, learning to gel as a band.
When they came third in the talent contest, they were approached by a promotor, who promised to help them hit the big time. All this was jeopardised, though, when Kitty went off on another bender. Fed up with Kitty being so unreliable, the women called time on the band.
Thankfully, Kitty subsequently got herself together and the band were reunited and headed for the recording studio.
But, once again, the future of the band was thrown into jeopardy when Kitty faced prison. After all, who were Riot Women without their lead singer?
Thankfully disaster was averted when Kitty avoided jail. At the end of the series the band played their set at the local festival and were a roaring success.
Riot Women ending: What else happened?
The Riot Women ending was a happy one for Holly. After struggling to find romance following her divorce, Holly met the lovely Jojo who she found on a dating app. One of their dates came to an hilarious end after an awkward moment in the bedroom.
However, it later turned out that Jojo worked in the studio where the band were recording their track – awkward!
Cue a hilarious moment where everyone overheard Holly and Jojo talking about their bedroom mishap. Thankfully, they got back on track and were soon reunited. Awww.
Will there be a season 2 of Riot Women?
Although there’s no official announcement from the BBC about a series 2 of Riot Women, the door has definitely been left open for more.
The episode ended with Kitty getting a call from her gangster dad, Keith, who was in prison. He finally gave her the names of the three men who abused her as a child.
Earlier in the episode. Kitty told Holly that she wanted justice for what the men did to her. She hinted that she might not go to the police and may “deal” with them herself.
So a second series could follow Kitty getting her revenge. Watch this space for more details, if and when we get them.
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