The Teacher series 3 ending: What happened to 'TERF' Helen and pupil Cressida in that explosive final, and S4 news
It was an extreme grudge match with tragic consequences
The Teacher series 3 ending delivered bombshell after bombshell – eventually coming to an explosive finale that was the mother of all twists. Pardon the pun.
This time, the accidental misgendering of a student in a classroom snowballed into an intense warfare between one “woke” student and one older teacher.
Although the series started with an element of ambiguity (whose side would we be on?), it quickly became clear that Cressida was a manipulative [bleep] who wanted to ruin Helen’s life. And she very nearly managed to. Head of Drama Helen made mistakes and was also deeply flawed. But she was the victim of a life-destroying smear-campaign she didn’t deserve.
Like Adolescence, viewers witnessed a teenager committing heinous acts. But could we blame Cressida’s sad upbringing, and lack of parental role models? And at what point did her acts become unforgivable – not matter her own abandonment issues?!
Here’s the ending of The Teacher series 3 unpacked, what happened to Helen and Cressida, and news on a series 4.
***Warning: spoilers from The Teacher series 3 ending ahead***
What happened at the ending of The Teacher series 3?
In the final episode of The Teacher, Principal Cookson told Helen that her employment had been terminated. Of course, her angry rant at Dee – who went on to take their own life – was not the behaviour of a stable teacher in a position of power. Helen had crossed a line, and she knew it.
But that was the least of her worries as the finale continued and Helen’s son Sam went missing with Cressida. Viewers knew that Cressida was out to punish Helen – at any cost. But Sam, already damaged by what happened to him at his previous school, was desperate for love. And Cressida faked it well.
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We watched in horror as Cressida lured Sam further into her dark web, exposing self-harm scars. Sickeningly, she encouraged Sam to harm himself too. Before suggesting the ultimate self-harm – a double suicide. But, of course, we all knew she wouldn’t harm herself – only Sam.
Helen frantically searched Sam’s dorm room for clues to his whereabouts. She discovered a half-written suicide note he composed after his experience at his last school. Sam was clearly vulnerable and now dangerously under Cressida’s control…
After Miles remembered a 16th birthday party Cressida once threw at a remote house owned by her parents, Helen raced into the Peak District to rescue Sam.
What happened to Helen at the end?
Luckily, in The Teacher series 3 ending, Helen managed to make it to the house in the Peak District in time to save her son. Cressida had manipulated him and dragged him into her darkness, coaxing him to kill himself. Finding one of her dad’s hunting guns, she coerced Sam into shooting himself to be “free from pain”. She promised she would follow (reader, she wouldn’t have).
Just as Sam was close to pulling the trigger, Helen arrived in time to talk sense into him. She apologised for the ways she had let him down, not least doubting him when he’d been accused of sexual assault at his last school. (More on that below.) She also begged for his forgiveness for leaving Sam’s dad Terry after he had a breakdown.
In short, she proved she loved him. Something Cressida was forced to watch, knowing no one really loved her. Furious her plan wasn’t working out, Cressida snatched the gun from Sam and pointed it at them instead. Helen, in full protective mother mode, made sure Sam escaped, before pleading with Cressida to let her go. Knowing she had been deprived of love by her own parents, Helen promised she understood and tried to reason with her.
When she pulled Cressida in for a hug, she took the gun from her hands. But Cressida, worried she’d been played, grabbed a piece of broken glass from the floor and slit her own throat. She wanted Helen to blame herself for another death. A horrified Helen tried to stop the bleeding while her son called the ambulance.
At the end of The Teacher series 3, Helen may have lost her job, but she had her son back. And she was a better, more compassionate person for it.
Did Cressida get punished?
In the final moments of The Teacher series 3, Cressida was in jail – or the equivalent for minors (even though she looked about 22). Although we’re not quite sure what she was ‘inside’ for. Yes, she was unhinged with hate in her heart. But what had she actually done apart from a bit of blackmail, thumping her teacher, and threatening someone with a gun? After all, Sam went with her willingly. And Cressida didn’t actually pull the trigger in the end.
Anyway, behind bars was probably the best place for her. But was she showing any remorse? Nope!
Having asked Helen to visit her in jail, she threatened to be around to haunt her forever. And she revealed she was pregnant with Sam’s child. Gulp.
Sam, Cressida, and Helen would all be linked for life. Whether they liked it or not.
What happened between Sam and Jackson?
Sam was a broken boy when he arrived at Cheetham Hall in Sheffield. Tragically, events at his last school had scarred him for life. Sam and his best friend Jackson, both swimmers, had fallen for each other. However, when someone walked in on them being intimate, Jackson had freaked out.
Instead of admitting he had feelings for Sam, Jackson felt ashamed and accused him of sexual assault. Jackson claimed Sam had forced himself on him, and Sam was subsequently “fully cancelled”. Students turned on him, and he suffered at the hands of bullies. Horrifyingly, Jackson’s mates had beaten him up and soaked him in her own urine.
Worse perhaps, Sam’s mum Helen seemingly sided with Jackson when she apologised to his family. Afterwards, Sam considered suicide, and even wrote his parents a note. But, thankfully, he didn’t go through with it.
What else happened in The Teacher series 3 ending?
We also discovered that Helen was “not great with feelings”. Husband Terry had had a nervous breakdown while they were together, and Helen had mentally “checked out”. She “walked away” and asked for a divorce.
Got to say, that is pretty awful behaviour! But, like all three series of the anthology The Teacher, each leading character has been deeply flawed. Or call it human. However, that doesn’t mean they are guilty. It’s the relatability of their situations that makes the series so compelling. Like in series 1, who hasn’t drunk too much and forgotten what they did the night before? And, as in series 2, haven’t we all been distracted only for something terrible to happen?
Helen wasn’t perfect. But she’d faced her mistakes. At the end of the series, Terry and Helen were there for each other, and on good terms. Helen had learnt a fair few life lessons.
What does TERF mean?
In episode 3 of The Teacher series 3, pupils turned against Helen and she was suspended (and eventually sacked). Students at the elite school Cheetham Hall called Helen a “TERF”. It’s an acronym for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist“. This specifically refers to people who identify as feminists, but oppose transgender rights – particularly rejecting the inclusion of trans women in women’s spaces and arguing that trans women are not women.
The term is often used to distinguish these views from “inclusive feminism”, though some consider it derogatory, preferring terms like “gender-critical“.
The term was coined around 2008 to distinguish between trans-inclusive radical feminists and those who were trans-exclusionary.
Will there be a series 4 of The Teacher?
Channel 5 has not yet confirmed a series 4 of The Teacher. But we’d put money on there being more episodes in the future. Although we doubt we’ll ever see Cressida and Helen again. The ambiguous ending was deliberate, and left a hint of menace.
This anthology series – like True Detective, Showtrial, Fargo, and Time – has the potential to run for years. Each series is a separate story, with a new cast. And there are multiple dilemmas facing a teacher every day.
Future series could feature a male lead for the first time, following on from Sheridan Smith, Kara Tointon, and Victoria Hamilton. And we’d be surprised if Katherine Kelly or Channel 5 favourite Jill Halfpenny didn’t pop up as a teacher in subsequent series.
Watch this space for more news when we get it.
