The Au Pair is drawing to a close as dark secrets come to the fore and the past returns to haunt Zoe (Sally Bretton) and her loved ones.
The four-part Channel 5 thriller has seen French home help Sandrine (Ludmilla Makowski) make life difficult for Zoe and her family, but we have now learned that Sandrine, also known as Stephanie Lacroix, is really Zoe’s long-lost daughter.
Zoe believed her baby had died at birth, but in fact, she survived and Zoe’s doctor dad George (Sir David Suchet) arranged for the child to be taken away and adopted.
Following the revelation, Sandrine went on the run, but Zoe’s husband Chris (Kenny Doughty), who is also a doctor, has now found her and kidnapped her…
In an explosive finale, Sandrine faces a fight for survival, while George and Zoe make some terrifying discoveries that place them both in danger.
Here’s everything that happened in The Au Pair episode 4…
As the finale begins, Sandrine (Ludmilla Makowski) is gagged and tied up on the floor of the abandoned house where she had previously been hiding.
Back at Zoe’s (Sally Bretton) home, she confronts her dad George (Sir David Suchet) now that she knows he lied to her and took her baby away.
She says she was so proud of him when she was little and used to tell people her dad was a doctor and helped people. He says that is why he became a doctor. But she asks if he thought he was helping her by telling her the baby died. Zoe was only 15 at the time and got drunk at a party and made a mistake. George says he just wanted to give her and the baby the best chance in life. But Zoe reveals that Sandrine obviously had a bad life as she has scars on her back.
George says he reached out to a colleague from when he was at Aurielville Hospital in France and she was a good woman and assured him she would find the baby a loving home. But now George feels he failed. George’s colleague was Marie (Virginie Ledoyen), who spoke to Zoe about Sandrine, and Zoe says she now needs her contact details as her number is no longer working and Sandrine is on her own somewhere afraid and Zoe needs to find her. George says he can’t give her that info but he will handle it.
Zoe says she will find Sandrine with or without his help and, after some online research, she speaks to a journalist, Nathan, on the phone and says she is Stephanie’s birth mum, he wrote an article about Stephanie six years ago when she was accused of arson, and Zoe is trying to locate her.
Zoe puts the phone on speaker so that Chris can hear. She tells Nathan that she spoke to a woman in France who said Stephanie’s adoption was illegally processed through Aurielville Hospital. Chris looks worried… Nathan says Stephanie's was one of many illegal adoptions at the hospital and he wrote a big story on it which was never published. He can’t tell her more as he received death threats and she doesn’t know what she is dealing with. Zoe begs him for help but he hangs up.
Chris asks what George is involved with. Zoe doesn’t know but she needs to find Sandrine fast. Chris says he will talk to George on his own and Zoe admits he won’t tell her anything. But we then see Chris outside on the phone telling someone to trust him and that George and Zoe know nothing but Marie has been talking to Sandrine, which is what Stephanie calls herself now.
A French man (Louis Bernard) on the other end of the line asks why Marie couldn’t keep her mouth shut, she’s had a warning and he will deal with her. But what did Chris do with Stephanie? Chris assures the man, who he calls Fred, that she won’t be a problem anymore. Fred asks him to find out what she knows and also asks about Chris’ wife. Chris claims he has her under control and she thinks George is responsible for everything…
As he goes back to Zoe, he lies and says he has spoken to George. Zoe now thinks that George was part of the illegal adoption but Nathan the journalist and Marie are both fearful and she can’t believe her dad would be capable of scaring them. Chris thinks he is. He doesn’t know who George is involved with but it sounds like he was a big part of black market adoptions, even though Chris says George didn’t admit it to him.
They then hear a car on the drive and see George driving off and we cut to a plane landing and George arriving at Marie’s house in France.
Later, we see Chris looking through a bag in the kitchen that contains syringes and he slyly takes one… Zoe is worried George’s phone is off and wants to call the police. Chris tells her to wait as George was his mentor at medical school when he was a struggling scholarship boy surrounded by public school types. George saw something in him and Chris idolised him. Now, after the all years working with George, if it gets out, no one would look at Chris the same way again. Zoe says they can’t keep it to themselves. But Chris claims George will just deny it.
Zoe still wants to find Sandrine though and keep her safe. Chris reminds her of what the journalist said and says that if Zoe interferes, she will put Sandrine at risk. Wherever she is, she is safer if they are not drawing attention to her and Sandrine is resourceful and will be OK. Zoe reluctantly agrees.
As Chris’ son Noah (Ripley Barden) comes in, he asks what is wrong. Zoe says they are worried about Sandrine. Noah’s sister Amber (Margot Pue) says she isn’t and Zoe agrees that Amber has every right to be angry with Sandrine after she attacked her, but Sandrine is her daughter. Amber says Zoe was just a teenager at the time and a baby would have ruined her life, but Zoe counters with the fact it would have just been a different life.
Noah picks up the letter Sandrine sent to Zoe and sees faint words at the top, which Zoe says is a dedication that someone has written in a book, but it is hard to read and she tries to decipher it.
Sandrine, meanwhile, is tied to a radiator and trying to scream…
At a cafe in France, George meets up with a shocked Marie and says he needs to know why she gave Stephanie the info about her origins. Marie says she had a right to know who her real mother is and Marie is sick and wants to die with a clear conscience.
George says she did nothing wrong and she acted in good faith and that is why he sent Chris to her… Marie says there is so much George doesn’t know. Does he remember Fred Gastou? Yes, he was the man who collected Zoe’s baby and Chris told George about him. Marie says she was naive and should have known she was being groomed and what they did out of compassion turned into a desire for profit.
A worried George asks what happened to his granddaughter. Marie says she and Chris were ready to hand her over to a loving couple but Fred did not give her back and threatened to ruin Marie and Chris if they spoke out. The Lacroixs, who took Stephanie in the end, were simply the highest bidders. George is horrified that she was sold and angry that Marie did not tell him. But Marie says she would have been killed if she had.
George says, ‘Poor Chris.’ But Marie laughs bitterly and says at first what they did broke Chris, but the money was good and after a while, he changed and took control of the situation. He would find young pregnant women who could be exploited and convince them to hand over their baby for a fee and the children would then be sold to the highest bidders Fred could find. Chris would forge the documents and take his cut.
George feels guilty and says this all started with him and it will destroy Zoe. Marie says to be careful what he tells her. She will want to confront Chris, and if they interfere with the illicit adoption business, Zoe and Sandrine’s lives will be in danger.
After Marie departs, George leaves a message on Zoe’s phone saying he had to pop to France and that he is on his way home and will talk to her this afternoon.
We then see Marie anxiously walking along a path but a man appears behind her and then Fred appears in front. Marie says she is ready to die but is Fred ready for prison? Fred then nods to the man behind who appears to kill Marie…
Zoe, meanwhile has gone to see her mum Lydia (Lesley Malony) to get help deciphering the inscription on the letter, as she thinks Sandrine ripped the paper out of a book and if she can find it, that might lead her to Sandrine.
The dedication seems to be to someone called Art, from Beth, and Lydia thinks that could be Elizabeth Jones and her husband Arthur, who are both dead but they lived in a house outside the village that is falling apart and she warns Zoe to be careful…
Chris goes to the abandoned house, which is where he is keeping Sandrine, who is trying to free herself from the radiator. He places a bottle of water on the floor and rips the gag off her. She begs him let her go. He says he will give her a drink if she tells him what she knows and who else she told. He doesn’t want to keep her there but she not giving him any choice. He says Zoe called Marie but she wouldn’t say much, he needs to know what else Marie told Sandrine.
Sandrine says she just told her that Zoe was her mum. Chris is angry and thinks she is lying and that Marie must have told her about the black market adoptions. Sandrine is horrified and says that when her adoptive dad was angry and beat her, he would say she was not worth the money. She realises she was sold. He asks who else knows that she came to find Zoe? But as the phone rings, he gags her again and goes outside to answer it.
It is Zoe on the phone and she tells Chris that George left her a message and will talk to her when he gets home. Chris looks worried, especially when she says George was in France. She asks if he knows of Elizabeth and Arthur Jones, as she thinks Sandrine is at their old house but she can’t find it. Chris tries to fob her off and tells her to go back to the village and ask there.
As he gets off the phone he fills a syringe and heads into the house where he tells Sandrine it won’t hurt she will just drift off to sleep and her heart will stop… Sandrine fights back and manages to free herself from the radiator and pushes Chris away and he falls to the ground. She runs off and he follows in his car.
Zoe eventually locates the house, which is now empty, but she finds the gag and rope Sandrine was tied with and the book the paper came from. She calls Chris and says she thinks Sandrine was held there and Chris says it’s more likely Sandrine held someone there herself. But Zoe has a bad feeling, as she found hair on the gag that looks like Sandrine’s and she is calling the police. Chris is furious…
But more new drama is kicking off as Amber is with her pregnant friend Raye (Ebimie Anthony), who has gone into labour…
Inspector Holt (Barry John Kinsella) has now turned up at the abandoned house and Zoe shows him the gag and he says there are signs of a struggle since he was there yesterday. Zoe is surprised he has searched there before and he reveals that Chris knew but he clearly didn’t tell Zoe. She then spots the syringe on the floor and pockets it.
As we cut to Chris preparing another syringe, he gets a call from Fred, who tells him George has met up with Marie, and Chris has to take care of him, while Fred also expects to be compensated. Chris agrees and says he knows a girl whose baby is due any day now…
Amber is trying to help Raye but is struggling to get through to Chris on the phone and she decides to take her home. As Zoe arrives at the house, she finds the syringes in the cupboard and is upset to realise the one from the abandoned house is the same kind – she knows Chris is involved.
But there are more worries in store when Amber and Raye arrive and reveal that Raye is having a baby and only they and Chris knew. Zoe calls an ambulance but George turns up and tells her to get Lydia there too and they both help Raye as her labour advances in Amber’s bedroom.
As George leaves the room to get his medical bag, Zoe asks what he was doing in France. He says he had to talk to Marie who was his and Chris’ colleague. Zoe is horrified that Chris also worked at Aurielville. George says there is so much Zoe needs to know but he will tell her later after Raye has had her baby.
Chris then turns up and go to George’s house where he is getting his bag. He asks why George went to France. George says he needed to find out the truth about what happened to Stephanie. But Raye is now having a baby in the house and he has to cut the cord and Chris must let him get back there. But Chris is desperate and asks what Marie told him and what he has told Zoe.
George informs him he’s told Zoe nothing yet, but he now knows what Chris has been involved in. A distraught Chris says he only got involved because of George, who says he never got him involved in selling babies but he is sorry he used his influence over Chris to help him relocate Zoe’s baby to France and Zoe has to know. Chris says he is sorry and then jabs George with a syringe and the old man collapses…
Inside the main house, Raye’s baby boy has been born and Raye tells Zoe that even though Chris did some work to try to help her make plans for the baby, she doesn’t want to give her child away now. Zoe realises Chris was trying to take her baby and says Raye doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want as she is the baby’s mother.
Sandrine has now arrived and she sees George lying on the floor in his house. Zoe meanwhile, is looking for him but she overhears Chris on the phone saying that George is taken care of and they will think Stephanie has done it. There is a baby on the way and he needs the paperwork. As he comes out and sees Zoe, she says she needs to get towels for the baby. She shuts herself in the utility room and tries to make a call and use the outside door but it is locked and Chris then comes back in with the key and says he is trying to protect his family.
Chris says that George used him and sent him to France to do his dirty work and now dangerous people are involved. She says she knows Chris was the one who held Sandrine at the abandoned house and she found the syringe. As they hear the baby cry, she asks Chris what he was going to do with the child. He says he has to offer them something.
As Sandrine is on the phone calling for an ambulance for George, Chris says to Zoe that they have to stick together or these people will kill them. Zoe says no, it’s his mess. Chris says he has no choice and comes at her with a syringe in his hand but Sandrine charges in behind him. They fight and he holds the syringe to her neck. But Amber appears the top of the stairs and begs her dad to let Sandrine go just as the police arrive. They arrest Chris and go to find George. Sandrine and Zoe hug.
Six months later, it’s Zoe’s birthday and all her family, including Sandrine, are there enjoying the day, apart from Chris and George. But George turns up uninvited to talk to Zoe.
He wants her to know the police contacted him because Marie kept detailed files on every baby. He had no idea there were others but whatever becomes of him for the role he played, he is willing to face the consequences. Zoe asks him to join them and he gets emotional but then he sees Sandrine who calls him grandad and embraces him…
All episodes of The Au Pair are on streaming service 5, formerly known as My5.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
