Wild Cherry on BBC One ending explained: Richford Lake killer revealed, and Gigi's huge secret
There were several murderers in Richford Lake...
Wild Cherry has come to a deliciously dark ending, with Iris’ killer finally unveiled, as well as the identity of the older man sharing intimate pictures of teenagers.
The six-part series introduced close friends Lorna and Juliet who were forced to take sides when their pampered teenage daughters Grace and Allegra became involved in a shocking scandal at an exclusive private school.
The girls had created a “catalogue” in which teenagers uploaded their photos, essentially to be rated. People paid to sign up, and the girls were making lots of money out of it. Never mind sharing intimate photos was illegal, the secret app ultimately led to the death of one of the girls, Iris, too.
In Richford Lake, nothing was what it seemed. Juliet projected “perfect wife vibes” but was lonely as hell and borderline alcoholic. The teenagers screamed confidence and carelessness, but actually cared deeply about their image and how they were perceived. However they came across, they were ultimately just scared young girls.
At the end of the penultimate episode, police arrived to arrest Allegra and Grace for the murder of Iris. But who really killed the teenager, and what were the consequences?
***Warning: spoilers from the ending of Wild Cherry ahead***
Wild Cherry ending explained: Who was Gigi?
Gigi was a fraud, and not who she said she was at all. Not a life coach, not a guru, and not American. Born Sadie on a London council estate, she adopted the name Gigi – and the Los Angeles accent – to infiltrate the upper classes. I mean, you can’t blame her for trying. But the fallout left her younger brother Jacob without any family. In a bid to escape her life, she left him and he had no idea where to find her.
At the beginning of the final episode, she told us: “My name is Sadie. Or Gigi. I know, I’ve been lying my whole life. I used to stay home and make up stories and play with my dolls. Because I wanted to be like those perfect women. I didn’t go to school much. I was too busy looking after my baby brother. As soon as I was old enough, I knew I had to hustle. I had to take matters into my own hands. Playing by the rules doesn’t get you anywhere.”
She added: “I couldn’t afford to have morals, and Freddie didn’t ask too many questions. I mean, why would he? He had someone to take care of him, and his kids. In Richford Lake, I had the life I was always meant to have. Just like those perfect women. But I found out these women were just like me. They were wild.”
In a heated discussion with Jacob, she said: “I deserve to be here and have nice things. Just like all these other bitches.”
When Juliet walked in on Sadie/Gigi and Jacob arguing, she realised they’d all been duped and threatened to call the police. Instead, she told Gigi to leave Richford Lake. But this bad bitch wasn’t going anywhere. More on that later.
What was the meaning of ‘we are but demons who dream’?
Lorna’s husband Steven finally discovered the meaning of the mysterious message Iris sent Lorna on the night she died. It was a chat room for “some very sick people”.
Someone was sharing photos of the girls on there. All of the teenagers were on it. And the site was registered in Richford Lake – to be more specific, it was registered to Frances’ house. That meant that either Jocasta or her mum and dad was behind it. And it was never going to be snooty Frances.
In fact, Daniel was the offender. The doctor had been hiding a secret relationship with his daughter’s teenage friend Noori. Yuk. Daniel was “the older guy” that Noori had been seeing. Although it wasn’t sexual, he had clearly been grooming her. As Grace said “he’d been using her to get photos of young girls”.
Grace worked it out when she saw Noori upset at the party. When Daniel saw Grace comforting Noori, he realised his dirty secret was out. He followed Grace into the garden to talk to her. But, when she ran away, he followed – something witnessed by Grace’s mum Lorna and her friend Juliet.
Grace ran into the woods behind Frances and Daniel’s house, closely followed by Daniel and behind him, Lorna and Juliet. Of course, Allegra was already in the woods, having met Jacob there earlier.
What followed was a tense denouement, where all the Richford Lake secrets were spilled.
What happened in the Wild Cherry ending on BBC One?
It was “sick” Daniel who had been sharing photos of teenagers online – even of his own daughter. He’d posted the intimate shots on the grubby chat room called ‘we are but demons who dream’. Noori had granted him access to the catalogue.
He told Lorna and Juliet: “I made a mistake.” When they accused him of killing Iris, he lunged at the group, shouting: “I didn’t kill anyone. Crazy [bleeping] women.”
As the four ladies fought with Daniel, he ended up on the ground. Which is where someone walloped him over the head with a chunk of wood. Reader, they’d killed him. But no one shed a tear. Good riddance more like.
Coming up with a plan quick, they dragged Daniel’s body into the back of Lorna’s car. Which is when Gigi decided to show up again. Instead of threatening to call the police, she told them: “I can help you with that.”
Then, having cleaned herself up, Juliet planted Iris’ phone in Daniel’s suit jacket. Meanwhile, Gigi and her newly-reunited brother Jacob helped them dispose of the body.
Who killed Iris?
According to the police, Daniel killed Iris. Police officers arrived at the party moments after Daniel had been disposed of. And his ‘disappearance’ only added to his guilt. Police assumed he’d done a runner. Coupled with the fortuitous discovery of Iris’ phone in his jacket, and it was case closed.
But actually it was Noori who had killed Iris. She told Grace: “The night of the party, I followed Iris to the woods. She thought it was you who was in a relationship with Daniel.”
When Iris decided to “protect Grace” and alert the grown-ups to Daniel’s predatory behaviour, Noori got “so mad”. She explained: “I didn’t want Iris to ruin it and tell on him.”
Although she told Grace she hadn’t done”anything” to Iris. She did have her phone… Which is why she later planted it on Noori. We later saw Noori and her mum burning clothes in their fire pit.
Viewers know that Iris was found dead in the lake after the wild party at K-Rizz’s TikTok party. Although it looked like drowning at first, in fact she’d been murdered and had suffered a skull fracture.
What happened to the main characters in the Wild Cherry ending?
In the Wild Cherry ending, several women and girls had got away with murder… But did that make them as bad as the men who tried to ‘control the narative’?
Both Grace and Allegra had learnt some serious lessons by the end of Wild Cherry. Allegra wasn’t obsessed with “going viral” anymore. At the end, they were still besties, but quite a bit wiser. Lorna and Juliet were no longer friends at the end of the six-part series.
Meanwhile, Lorna had told Grace who her real father was – the super rich Jeremy Trevy.
Juliet ended her “sham” marriage with Rafe, a thoroughly despicable bloke by all accounts. She finally stood up to him in a punch-the-air-with-joy scene.
Of course, Gigi now was complicit in Daniel’s manslaughter. And so had something to hold over her new ‘friends’. In the closing moments of the series, we discovered that Gigi had taken photos of them with Daniel’s body. You know, in case she needs them on day…
What else happened in the Wild Cherry ending?
- Gigi stayed in Richford Lake. She reinvented her brother Jacob into nerdy Kyle, and introduced him to her husband Freddie. His accent needed quite a bit of work though…
- In the biggest plot twist ever, Frances turned up at K-Rizz’s house “wanting to feel better”. Another one not quite as perfect as she made out!
Will there be a series 2 of Wild Cherry?
BBC One has not confirmed if there’ll be a series 2 of Wild Cherry, and we think it works perfectly as a stand-alone series.
Having said that, though, there’s scope for another series. We’d love to see if Gigi ever needs to use her bombshell piece of blackmail.
Watch this space for more news on a possible series 2 of Wild Cherry.
Read more: The Revenge Club on Paramount+: Start date confirmed for ‘wickedly fun revenge thriller’
