This Protection episode 3 recap contains spoilers... DI Liz Nyles (Siobhan Finneran) becomes the Head of Protected Persons, but as she digs deeper into the mystery surrounding the McLennans, she makes some disturbing discoveries.
Many of them concern her lover, DS Brandice (Barry Ward) and Amy McLennan (Tilly Kaye) reveals how he visited her father before his death to discuss 'insurance'. But with someone still watching Liz, it's clear she's in great danger...
DCI Hannah Wheatley (Katherine Kelly) tells Liz others on her team believe Raj Koli (Chaneil Kular) is the source of the leak and was potentially working with DS Brandice. However she thinks it's Liz, because she knew the location of the safe house and the interview, plus she found DS Brandice’s car. “My gut tells me you’re hiding something,” she says, correctly.
Meanwhile, DCI Arun Kapoor (Ace Bhatti) has decided to step down as head of the Protected Persons unit, which means Liz is expected to step in and DCI Kelman (Nadine Marshall) makes it clear she doesn’t want to say no. “They’re setting you up to fail,” says Kapoor as he leaves.
Liz is determined to prove him wrong by solving the case though — and preferably by proving the leak wasn’t DS Brandice — so she begins looking into Soran Ahmadi (Waj Ali), which is against protocol.
He tells her he helped Eddie Crowther (Alec Newman) import heroin from Turkey, as the crime boss promised to bring his family to the UK, but he didn’t. He does know who the motorcyclist might be though, suggesting it might be ‘Jock Ferguson’ (the most Scottish assassin ever?)
He also says he recognizes DS Brandice, as he came to visit him several times at a safe house, asking questions about Crowther’s operation and warning Ahmadi not to tell anyone he’d visited. It all sounds pretty dodgy.
Who killed DS Brandice?
When Liz gets home her father and daughter are delighted to hear she’s been promoted to head of the unit, however we see there’s someone surveilling her and taking photos. Does this mean DS Brandice is innocent — or that he has an accomplice?
Either way she’ll soon be able to ask him, as he’s awake, well at least she would be able to if she was allowed into his room, as DCI Wheatley has placed restrictions on who can visit him.
Yet a look at DS Brandice's file reveals that DCI Kapoor knew he’d been allowed to join Protected Persons without being vetted. Kapoor is unwilling to discuss it, yet Liz also has a lead of Jock Ferguson.
When she heads to the address she finds two masked thugs threatening the flat’s tenant. When they flee, the woman tells Liz Ferguson got a call last week about a job that would solve all their money problems. Yet when he "f***** it up" he feared he was in terrible trouble, because someone had seen him while he was carrying it out.
Liz suspects that person was Amy McLennan (Tilly Kaye) and when she visits the 12 year-old she reveals the full story of what happened on the day her parents were killed. She also explains that DS Brandice had visited her dad the weekend before he was killed and they were discussing 'insurance'.
Liz debriefs DCI Kelman about what Amy really saw and they wonder if the motorcycle assassin was Ferguson acting on his own initiative in a bid to get Crowther off his back. It’s clear DS Brandice is the key to the investigation and when DCI Kelman gives her permission to talk to him she heads to the hospital, only to find a mysterious man leaving his room and him flatlining. But where was the police guard?
Who's watching Liz?
After DS Brandice passes away, Liz visits his widow to pass on her condolences and gets a very cold reception. It seems she also has her suspicions about Liz’s interest in the case.
She then goes to visit Raj to tell him about DS Brandice’s death, which isn’t good news for him. He wants Liz to give DCI Wheatley the burner phone in the hope it will send the investigation in a different direction, yet Liz knows that would mean she’d put him in prison too. Regardless, Raj says she has 24 hours before he tells Wheatley about it.
At the hospital, Liz checks the CCTV of Brandice’s ward, but finds no sign of the nurse she saw just before Brandice flatlined on the recording. It seems he’s been removed. Apparently a member of Wheatley’s team, DI Jardine (Tom Christian) had been in earlier to review the footage, did he tamper with the evidence?
The final scene of the episode reveals it’s DI Jardine who’s been surveilling and taking photos of Liz, so we reckon he may well have done!
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