The Fall

A seemingly cold but very passionate policewoman goes head to head with a seemingly passionate father who is in fact a cold serial killer in this procedural out of Belfast. The only thing they share is their common complexity.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Cast:Gillian Anderson , Jamie Dornan , John Lynch , Aisling Franciosi , Niamh McGrady , Bronagh Waugh , Sarah Beattie , Stuart Graham , Bronagh Taggart , Valene Kane , David Beattie , Emmett J Scanlan , Richard Clements , Claire Rafferty , Colin Morgan , Kelly Gough , Archie Panjabi , Karen Hassan

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Dark Descent

Sun, Jul 7, 2013

A bereavement counsellor maintains a seemingly normal family and marital life and while pretending to work on a support hotline at night, instead goes out and commits meticulously well-planned murders on adult women.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Darkness Visible

Mon, May 20, 2013

Having killed Sarah, Spector ritually bathes her and paints her nails, snips off a lock of her hair and takes a necklace. Later he masturbates over film he has taken of her corpse. Stella refuses to speak to local reporter Ned Callan as to her involvement in the Monroe case. Afterwards, she has meaningless sex with young police sergeant James Olson. Next day she is angry to see that Callan has written an article about her arrival in Belfast. She is then called out to the murder scene of Sarah and asks to take over the investigation. She learns from the pathologist that Sarah was pregnant. Spector's wife's teen-aged baby-sitter comes to the house to download music and tries to steal the lock of Sarah's hair. Spector man-handles her to get it back, claiming it belonged to his mother though she is suspicious. At the same time the murder of drug-dealer Michael Lockwood seems to spark off a retaliatory murder.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ Insolence & Wine

Mon, May 27, 2013

Stella learns from ACC Burns that the new victim is Jimmy Olson. She confesses to having had sex with him, unaware that he was married, and is advised by Burns to arm herself. Rob Breedlove, who runs a brothel in which Alice's widower Aaron has an interest, is also perturbed by Jimmy's death. Stella holds a briefing to alert her officers to the fact that they are dealing with a serial killer, who is addicted to his crimes. She gives a press conference at which Ned Callan poses awkward questions, before selecting her team and giving an accurate profile of the murderer. Spector goes with his wife and children to visit her parents but makes a point of studying Stella on her television appeal. His mother-in-law is suspicious of the fact that he has given his little daughter Olivia a necklace, the one stolen from Sarah, whilst Olivia tells her mother Sally Ann that she knows of a scrapbook in which her father keeps a perverted log, detailing his crimes. Soon afterwards Spector selects his next victim, solicitor Annie Brawley.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ My Adventurous Song

Mon, Jun 3, 2013

DCI Eastwood tells Burns that he took a call on Olson's phone which was made at a hotel by rogue cop Rob Breedlove, whom they link to Aaron Monroe, his businessman father Morgan and a prostitution racket. When quizzed about it Breedlove kills himself but Burns confronts Morgan Monroe with his findings. Spector is censured by his boss for making an impromptu and empathetic house call to his client Liz Tyler, a battered wife whose husband James has complained about him. However Spector ensures that Liz goes to a refuge whilst arranging for her husband's arrest. Spector sends a bizarre, anonymous letter to Sarah Kay's father, claiming he would not have killed her if he had known she was pregnant. Stella believes it is less a case of remorse than annoyance that his 'perfect' murder was tainted but allows Mr Kay to make a public appeal nonetheless. A friend of pathologist Reed Smith comes forward and tells Stella she once met a one night stand whom she knew only as Peter who tried to throttle her whilst having sex and wonders if he is the murderer. Whilst she is being interviewed Spector kills his next victim and her partner.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ The Vast Abyss

Mon, Jun 10, 2013

Spector is frustrated and angry for he has failed in his perfect murder, killing Jack Brawley whilst Annie Brawley survives and is taken to hospital, where Stella tests for DNA on her body. Spector's wife Sally Ann sees him on CCTV footage of Sarah Kay's last recorded movements and makes him go to the police station to eliminate himself from enquiries. Sally Ann covers for him but is angry when he lies about his nocturnal jaunts by admitting to an affair with the under-age baby sitter. Sally Ann leaves him but he wins her back. After an Identikit picture of 'Peter' is published and Sarah's father makes an appeal Stella receives a bizarre phone call from Spector, promising to end his killing spree, though that is not the end of the matter. Meanwhile Eastwood accuses Burns of weakness for tipping off the Monroes that he knows about their illegal activities, allowing Aaron to flee from the law.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ These Troublesome Disguises

Thu, Nov 13, 2014

Gibson tries to help Spector's surviving victim remember her attackers identity; Spector deals with the loose ends he left behind.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Night Darkens the Street

Thu, Nov 20, 2014

Gibson realises that her mistakes have put the life of witness Rose Stagg in danger. Desperate to save Rose's life, she steps up the police investigation as serial killer Paul Spector continues to stalk Belfast's streets.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ Beauty Hath Strange Power

Thu, Nov 27, 2014

Stella tells her team that Spector is their prime suspect and has them interview Sally Anne. She is unable to alibi her husband for the Brawley murder and directs them to Katie, whose reaction makes Stella suspicious. Katie meets Spector, who persuades her that he is not the murderer but finds Stella superior and irritating and wants to upset her and a smitten Katie agrees to help him. Spector somehow manages to get into Stella's hotel room and finds her diary, in which he finds evidence that she is prone to nightmares in which Olson figures. Thus he gets Katie to send her an email depicting the painting 'The Nightmare.'.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ The Mind Is Its Own Place

Thu, Dec 4, 2014

From the hotel's CCTV Stella realizes that Spector entered her room and knows she is on to him. He is due to see Annie again but Stella has the visit cancelled and moves Annie to another room, where she tells Stella she believes Spector to be the man who killed her brother. Stella is called away to see another body, meeting DS Tom Anderson, but the corpse in question is a suicide and not Rose Stagg. The police enter Spector's house whilst he and his wife - now temporarily together - are out but find nothing and are forced to leave after staging an accident. Spector is suspicious and, now increasingly vengeful and unbalanced, calls upon the gullible Katie to do something bad.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ The Perilous Edge of Battle

Thu, Dec 11, 2014

Jim Burns visits an unfrocked paedophile, Father Jensen, in prison. Years ago he ran an orphanage attended by Spector, though then he was Peter Baldwin, later adopted by the Spectors, which was when his criminality began. The police arrest Katie at the hotel where Spector stays, after she has flushed evidence down the toilet. They also pick up Spector after he has been involved in an attempted abduction and shooting by James Tyler, whose wife left him after Spector counselled her. Sally Ann is also charged with perverting the course of justice by giving her husband an alibi on the night of the first murder. Stella is horrified to find that Spector has made a video of Rose Stagg begging him to release her and has him charged with murder and kidnap.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ What Is in Me Dark Illumine

Thu, Dec 18, 2014

With Paul Spector in custody, DSI Gibson desperately searches for clues to find Rose Stagg. However, Spector does all he can to thwart her, locking them into a deadly duel.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Silence and Suffering

Fri, Oct 14, 2016

Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson has arrested Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan) - but will he survive the gunshot wounds? Will he ever face justice? Spector is rushed to Belfast General Hospital where Dr Joe O'Donnell, Nurse Kiera Sheridan and the staff engage in the blood-soaked fight to keep him alive.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ His Troubled Thoughts

Fri, Oct 21, 2016

Gibson and Burns are hauled over the coals by the Police Ombudsman and the Policing Executive for their conduct and handling of the case. When Spector's name is released to the press as the arrested suspect in the Belfast Strangler case, his wife and family are forced to deal with the consequences. Katie enraged at the media treatment of him, decides to take matters into her own hands. All the while Nurse Kiera Sheridan and the medical team continue to fight to keep Spector alive. But even if he survives will he ever be fit enough to stand trial? And do Gibson and her team have enough evidence?

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ The Gates of Light

Thu, Oct 13, 2016

Stella is shocked by Spector's journal illustrating his crimes though aware it can be used as evidence against him, since he is claiming to have no recollection of any events during the past six years. Healy tries to use this to prevent his standing trial at the preliminary hearing but the district judge commits him to crown court, ordering his detention at a secure psychiatric hospital under the supervision of Dr Larson. Meanwhile Tom Anderson tells Stella that David Alvarez, who was in the same care home as Spector, was imprisoned for murder in London in 2002.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ The Hell Within Him

Thu, Oct 20, 2016

Gibson is faced with the shocking impact Spectors crimes have had on his family. She is also asked to hand her personal dream diary in as evidence and calls Spector a contagion that is still able to harm anyone that crossed his path even though he is incapacitated. Spector is confronted with audio and video recordings of him talking about his crimes. Spector is transferred from Belfast hospital to a high security psychiatric institute and still seems to have 6 years memory loss. Rose opens up to Gibson about the details of her relationship with Spector.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ Wounds of Deadly Hate

Thu, Oct 27, 2016

Dr Larson begins his assessment on Spector, who opens up about the life he can remember before his amnesia, while the killer's legal team remain determined he will never stand trial, bringing Gibson's conduct under further scrutiny.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Their Solitary Way

Fri, Oct 28, 2016

Spector admits to his lawyers and later to Tom Anderson that he was involved in the London murder eight years earlier but, when Stella suggests Alvarez took the blame out of gratitude for saving him from sexual abuse at their care home, he reacts by attacking her. This splits his defenders as Ms. Wallace, appalled by his violence, quits the team, though Healy aims to press ahead citing insanity in mitigation. As Larson becomes more aware of Spector's lies, Stella defuses Katie Benedetto's obsession with some success while Spector indulges in a gruesome act which will ultimately close the case against him.