The Cage on BBC One ending explained: What happened to Matty and Leanne, and news on a series 2
The drama came to a heartbreaking but hopeful ending
The Cage started with the main characters Leanne and Matty in serious financial distress, and things just got worse and worse and worse again as the BBC One series hurtled towards its ending.
Casino cashier Leanne and her two children faced homelessness, while casino manager Matty owed serious money to loan sharks, thanks to his addiction issues. Desperate, both of them – unbeknownst to each other – began robbing the casino safe. And the situation only got more and more dangerous for the pair.
Like a car crash happening in slow motion, the likeable but hellishly unlucky pair sped towards their fate… And, at the end of the penultimate episode, the pair looked like their luck had finally come in…
Tackling grief, loss, debt, addiction, and poverty, The Cage could have been relentlessly grim. But somehow it managed to keep its head above water. We just knew Matty and Leanne would be alright. It wasn’t the sort of drama that would leave us hopeless. They were good people doing bad things, and we were rooting for them. Although the finale wasn’t exactly tied up in a neat pink bow with happy endings for all, it was a realistic version of life.
Here’s the ending of The Cage on BBC One unpacked, including what happened to Matty and Leanne, and if Gary got his comeuppance.
***Warning: spoilers from The Cage on BBC One ending ahead***
What happened in the finale?
In the closing minutes of the penultimate episode, Leanne and Matty had somehow escaped the pressure cooker of the casino. Viewers know that scary Gary had been laundering his dirty drug money through the casino, unbeknownst to his lovely mum Nancy who owned the business.
In episode 4, Gary coerced them into counting his money to be “filtered in so it looks legit”. He had around £700,000 that needed to go through the books illegally. Or else. The Liverpool gangster ran a taxi business, which actually delivered drugs across the city. But what we didn’t know until the penultimate episode was that Gary was also in debt up to his eyebrows. He owed Vincent money and, if he didn’t cough up in two days, he’d be dead.
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Of course, this meant that Gary became extremely desperate to leave Liverpool and do a runner to Tenerife. However, in the closing minutes of episode 4 – as Gary became more and more desperate and violent – police swarmed the building and arrested everyone counting cash in the casino. That is apart from Leanne and Matty, who had managed to leg it in time. Even better, they had stolen some of Gary’s money.
It looked for a few moments like they might just get a happy ending… But, nah, “people like Leanne and Matty didn’t get fairy tale endings”. Now they had the police after them to boot.
What happened in The Cage ending on BBC One?
On the run from the police, Leanne and Matty got in Leanne’s iconic car and hurtled up to the Lake District – along with Leanne’s nana, and her kids Thomas and Ruby. Of course, they also had the stolen £30,000 in the back of the car.
Unbeknownst to Leanne, Matty had also stashed two kilos of pure cocaine in the boot of the car. These were the drugs he’d been (reluctantly) keeping for loan shark Paul, who now ordered him to take then up to a house in Keswick. When Matty suggested they head up to the Lake District, he didn’t tell Leanne the whole story.
In a terrible twist of events, Leanne’s car broke down in the middle of nowhere. While they waited for the recovery service to come and fix their flat tyre, a police car found them first… Initially trying to help them, the police officer soon discovered they had drugs and cash in the car. Both Leanne and Matty were arrested.
Matty did not get bail. He’d tried to abscond from the police. And, along with the money, drugs, and passport in his possession, he was considered high risk. Six months after being arrested, Matty was still in custody awaiting trial.
Did Leanne get a happy ending in The Cage on BBC One?
Leanne and Matty both pleaded not guilty in court. They were accused of stealing £31,273 from the casino, which was actually Leanne’s crime. They were also accused of having two kilos of pure cocaine on them with the street value of £200,000 (most definitely Matty’s fault, although he’d been forced to take them).
Of course, the police found them with passports, and travel bags for the whole group. The prosecution accused them of running a county lines operation between Cumbria and Liverpool. They were both cooked.
But in moving scenes, Matty decided to take the fall. He pleaded guilty to the crimes, insisting Leanne had nothing to do with it. The judge allowed Leanne to leave. She was free – and she owed her freedom to Matty.
Although it was a heartbreaking scene, Leanne deserved a happy ending. We know that she’d once had the “fairy tale” with her husband Chris. Tragically he died, leaving her a widow with two kids.
Leanne’s Nanna subsequently died, but Leanne was not left homeless. She moved in with Gary’s mum Nancy. Nancy was thrilled to have the company in her big ass house. And Leanne had somewhere safe to call home.
What was Matty’s fate?
Matty didn’t quite get a happy ending in The Cage on BBC One, but he still had his kneecaps at least. The casino manager was a troubled man, trying to survive in a dark world. Plagued by demons, it looked like he’d never be able to escape them. But he did in the end.
Although he ended up in prison, he’s sacrificed himself for Leanne’s happiness. He’d spent his life feeling like a villain. He blamed himself for his older brother’s death, and the worthlessness he felt sent him spiralling into addiction. However, at the end of The Cage, he’d done something heroic. That was his happy ending.
Viewers weren’t told how long Matty would be in prison. But it was his first crime, so surely the judge would have been lenient.
More importantly for Matty, he knew he had people who loved him. His daughter Emily visited him in jail, and called him “her hero”. Emily knew that Matty had taken full responsibility to save Leanne, and she loved him for it. Leanne also visited him in jail and vowed to be there for him when he got out. She said: “I’ll pay you back one day. For everything that you’ve done for us.”
Another silver lining to Matty being in jail? He’d get clean of his addictions. When he comes out, he’d have his daughter on side, and Leanne as a best mate. Whether Paul would be waiting remains to be seen…
What happened to Matty’s brother?
In the final episode of The Cage, viewers finally learnt what had happened in Matty’s dark past. His mum read a letter to the court to explain why her son had turned out the way he had.
She said: “When Matty was nine, his older brother Daniel died at 17. He drowned. Matthew has never been able to move on. Daniel dived in to ‘save’ Matty from drowning. It was a practical joke. [Matty wasn’t drowning]. Daniel drowned trying to save a little brother that didn’t need saving.
“Matthew blamed himself then, and he blames himself now.”
As Matty wept in the dock, we knew it was the cathartic resolution he needed. Something he’d kept hidden his whole life and carried as a burden, was finally spoken aloud. Perhaps now he could move on.
What else happened in the series finale of The Cage on BBC One?
We discovered that Gary had previously “given DS Ning someone bigger than me” to save his own arse. But instead, he’d sacrificed a “young kid” who had killed himself in his cell. This is what had driven the detective to bring Gary down.
But sadly, she failed. Although she arrested Gary in the casino on suspicion of selling Class A narcotics, she had nothing to link him to drugs. Yes, she found him with £700,000 of cash, but she had no proof it was dirty money.
Gary got bail, but all charges were subsequently dropped. He escaped with no punishment. Although there was some karma. Leanne refused to go to Tenerife with him, and he ended up there alone. His own mother wouldn’t speak to him, and he had zero friends. And no doubt Vincent would be waiting for him if he ever returned to Liverpool…
Matty’s mum Nancy was arguably one of the only truly good people in the series. In The Cage ending, she was back running the casino, with Leanne as her cashier. It felt hopeful. And there was reason to believe they’d be waiting for Matty when he came out.
In the closing seconds of The Cage ending on BBC One, Leanne broke the fourth wall as she held a wad of money in her hand. She looked directly at the viewer with a twinkle in her eye. What was this telling us? Was she simply telling us she’d got away with it all?
Is there a series 2 of The Cage?
Although BBC One hasn’t confirmed a series 2 of The Cage yet, we’d love to catch up with these characters again.
Would Vincent catch up with Gary in Tenerife? Would Paul still be after Matty when he was released? And how would Leanne and Matty continue their friendship? Would Matty be a changed man after leaving prison?
Like Tony Schumacher’s BBC One hit The Responder, The Cage has the potential to run for years. Watch this space for more information when we have it.
