Marriage spoilers ahead.
Ian (Sean Bean) and Emma’s (Nicola Walker) complicated but simple life is put under the spotlight for a fortnight in the four-part BBC special Marriage. After 27 years together, what else is there to talk about? Actually, a whole lot, especially as life continues to throw curveballs at them.
So what exactly happened and what does the future hold? Here’s everything that happened by the end of the series.
What happened to Ian and Emma?
While Ian and Emma certainly have their rows – about everything from chicken to jacket potatoes – their cemented relationship and near three-decades of romance remain as tight as ever.
Definitely in a difficult patch, Ian is in a rut following the death of his mother and the loss of his job. It leaves him feeling a little lost and distant, but he is eventually able to channel his awkward positioning into his family, growing closer to Jessica as a result.
The death of the pair’s son Nicholas definitely hangs over their head, and it’s something that’s clearly still difficult for them. When Jessica asks, Emma gets distant and eventually breaks down in tears as she persists.
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Emma also struggles with her dad, who is in need of consistent care and is not happy about it, blaming Emma for having someone else take care of him.
But with the pair willing to open up a bit more, Ian admits he’s in a rough patch, and at the end of the series vows to work harder to pick himself back up again.
What happened with Jamie?
Emma’s seedy boss Jamie (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) oozes slime from every pore, and it’s something that Ian in particular didn’t appreciate. While throughout the course of the series, Emma tolerated Jamie’s snobbish and brash behaviour with as much of a smile she could muster, in reality she was about to scream.
But Ian sensed Jamie wanted something more from her, and began to get paranoid that he was losing his wife to this younger businessman. Knowing this, she hid the fact she had ended an overnight conference in his hotel room.
Nothing happened, and Emma made sure of that, but he did make inappropriate comments and an indecent proposal towards her, before offering her cocaine. Emma refused and later stormed out.
Once returning to the office, she chastised him for his use of cocaine and his behaviour that night, something he dismissed as "acting like the boss in and out of the office". She wasn’t having it.
To make matters worse for him, Jamie is later confronted by a man named Dan, who goes to the office to say that his daughter, Emily O’Donnell, claims he got her drunk and had sex with her while on work experience. She’s only 17 and has broken down as a result, considering it a catastrophe. In return, he had ghosted her.
The question still hangs over what the disgruntled parent decided to do with him next.
What happened to Jessica?
Throughout the first three episodes, we see Jessica struggle in a controlling relationship with boyfriend Adam. But finally, after meeting someone who appreciated her, her passion for music, and her general nature, she leaves him – much to the delight of her parents, who happily helped her move out.
Jessica also managed to mend her relationship with Ian over the course of the series. The pair always held each other at an arms’ length, not quite sure how to communicate, but they were finally able to bond when Ian handed her a letter he wrote the day she was adopted.
Finally able to bond, the pair share an emotional moment, and having moved back into the house, she encourages her family to be more open with each other. However, it backfires on her when she asks her parents’ thoughts on Adam, and they admit they both hated him.
Moving into a new house, the musician is looking forward to a fresh start.
Marriage is available now on BBC iPlayer.
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Freelance writer, Digital Spy
Tilly is Gold-Standard NCTJ accredited journalist with eight years of experience in entertainment journalism.
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