Little Disasters on Paramount+: Ending explained, including who really hurt Jess' baby Betsey
By Helen Fear | Thu May 22 2025Little Disasters centred around a beautiful baby girl called Betsey, and asked who could have hurt her - here's the emotional ending of the Paramount+ series explained, including if mum Jess was really to blame.
The psychological thriller, which is currently streaming on Paramount+, is based on the popular novel of the same name by author Sarah Vaughan. And it's not afraid to tackle some pretty big subjects, not least coercive control, infidelity, alcoholism, and - at its very centre - possible child abuse, and mental health issues.
It's a gripping tale, which left us guessing until the very end. In the final episode, we finally discovered who hurt baby Betsey, why, and how. Here's everything you need to know about the ending of Little Disasters on Paramount+.
***Warning: spoilers from the ending of Little Disasters ahead***
Little Disasters ending explained: Did Jess hurt Betsey?
The six-part series Little Disasters centred around a bunch of NCT friends who, 10 years later, were torn apart couple by couple after an unthinkable tragedy - the endangerment of a child.
So-called "perfect mum" Jess Carrisford (Diane Kruger in the Little Disasters cast) was accused of harming her baby daughter Betsey. The 10-month-old girl had a "significant skull fracture and subdural hematoma" when she was taken into A&E vomiting and crying. However, a "super evasive" Jess was unable to explain the injury. Of course, it looked super suss.
Jess' friend Liz, a pediatric doctor on shift at the time, was forced to tell social services. There followed upsetting - but necessary scenes - where Jess was not allowed to be alone with her own children. However, we subsequently discovered that Jess was not to blame for the horrific injury to Betsey's skull.
At the end of the penultimate episode of Little Disasters, we finally discovered that there was someone else in the house on the day that Betsey got hurt...
Who really hurt baby Betsey?
It was Stephen Campbell Moore's character Rob who had accidentally hurt Betsey, and then kept it quiet.
By far the most unlikable character in the series anyway, he was a bully, a selfish chancer and, quite frankly, a horrible boyfriend to Mel. Desperate to get Jess' husband Ed Carrisford to invest in his new business, Rob turned up at their house unannounced.
However, he chose the exact moment when Jess, feeling the pressures of a teething baby, had left the house to buy paracetamol.
Rob arrived to find a baby that needed its nappy changed. When big brother Frankie - still very much a child himself - asked Rob to help him change her nappy, he reluctantly agreed. But he was extremely distracted as he was also trying to look at papers with Ed's signature on (possibly to forge) at the same time.
In a horrifying moment, Rob took his eye off the baby, who fell off the kitchen island onto the hard floor below. As the baby screamed in distress, Rob quickly put her back in her cot, and bullied poor Frankie into keeping quiet by blaming him. He also suggested that mum Jess would be put in jail if it got out that she'd left her children alone.
Well, that explained why Frankie had been so upset recently, as well as why Jess had been so evasive. She knew she had left the children unsupervised for several minutes alone. But this turned out to be her only 'crime'.
How was Rob found out in Little Disasters ending?
In the series finale of Paramount+'s Little Disasters, all the friends gathered at a school fair. However, what should have been a happy event quickly turned into a frightening one when Frankie saw Rob and freaked out.
Terrified, Frankie ran away from the fair. When he was eventually found, he became very distressed when he saw Rob holding his little sister Betsey - who was by now out of hospital.
He shouted: "Don't touch Betsey. It was him. He hurt Betsey."
After a painfully emotional showdown, Jess subsequently called the police on Rob. Police went on to charge him with attempting to pervert the cause of justice, and wasting police time - both described as "serious charges".
If convicted - which we're sure he would be - he'd be looking at two years imprisonment. It really couldn't have happened to a nicer guy...
What was wrong with Jess?
As well as Betsey's worrying injuries, part of the reason that Jess was under suspicion was because of her evasive and, sometimes, alarming behaviour.
She hid knives, and even the kettle and toaster in a locked kitchen cabinet, began cleaning the house frantically - even if that meant ignoring Betsey's crying - and displayed some worrying manic behaviour. This really came to a head when she became hysterical as doctors tried to help her daughter Betsey during a seizure. She accused them of trying to kill her, and had to be removed by security.
Of course, we knew that Jess was an anti-vaxxer who did not trust modern medicine. But there was more to it than that. In fact, thanks to Liz who put the pieces together, we soon learnt that Jess had mental health issues following the birth of her third child. Jess most likely had peri-natal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
At the end of Little Disasters, Jess was talking to a specialist. With regards to her intrusive thoughts, she told Liz: "I'm getting better and stronger."
What is peri-natal OCD?
Jess was suffering from peri-natal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). As described by doctor Liz, this is a mental health disorder, a post-natal anxiety which is a form of obsessive compulsive disorder triggered by the birth of a child.
Symptoms are obsessing over whether your child is safe, compulsive behaviour, and/or compulsive cleaning to manage your thoughts.
If you have peri-natal OCD, it's important to seek help and treatment. Talk to your GP, midwife, or health visitor.
What else happened at the end of Little Disasters?
- All charges against Jess were dropped by the police. Child protection services also closed the case, believing Jess to be a good mum.
- Betsey was finally allowed home from ICU with some anti-seizure medication.
- During a heart-to-heart between Charlotte and her husband Andrew, she admitted that she hadn't gone through with the egg retrieval. Of course, Andrew insisted he was happy with the family he already had - Charlotte and their one child. The rather lovely Andrew turned a blind eye to Charlotte's raging crush for Ed, and the pair lived happily-enough-ever-after.
- On the subject of Charlotte (contender for Villain Number Two) she may have been beautiful, successful, and looked mighty fine in a pair of lycra leggings, but her friendship skills were frankly appalling. However, Jess heroically forgave her for trying it on with her husband Ed while she was in police custody.
- Meanwhile, Mel removed herself from her controlling partner Rob. She and their two children stayed in Richmond, close to their friends. While hopefully Rob took a long, hard look at himself in jail.
- Liz swore to curb her drinking, and finally made peace with her decision to call social services on her friend. After all, if she hadn't, Rob's actions would never have been exposed. She ultimately knew she'd done the right thing.
Will there be a series 2 of Little Disasters?
Paramount+ has not confirmed a series 2 of Little Disasters, although we're sorry to say we think it is unlikely.
There is no sequel to the book it's based on. Little Disasters is a standalone novel by Sarah Vaughan and does not have a follow-up. Although that doesn't always mean there won't be another series - look at The Handmaid's Tale currently on its sixth series even though there was only one book!
However, the TV series of Little Disasters had tied up any loose ends by the final episode. We know why Jess was behaving the way she did, and we know who hurt Betsey.
Although we'd love to reconnect with the characters again, and would happily watch Jo Joyner's character and her husband in a doctor/teacher spin-off! Or perhaps a series from Rob's perspective in jail? We've got to admit, we'd like to see him suffering!
