Without Sin spoilers follow.
Stella's road to uncovering her daughter Maisy's real murderer has been a winding one.
The grieving mother takes the word of Maisy's convicted killer, Charles Stone (Johnny Harris), when he tells her he is innocent of her murder and so embarks on a dangerous mission to seek out the truth.
It is the toxic mix of guilt, regret and grief that keeps her chugging on in search of answers, no matter the costs… and there are costs. Huge costs. Especially when she learns that Maisy and her friend Cleo (Elise Ackerman) were mixed up with the dangerous drug-dealing family the McKellars.
Stella's motivations expand as she becomes obsessed with saving a missing Cleo from the same fate as Maisy.
So was she able to rescue Cleo and find Maisy's killer in time before the McKellars caught up? Let's investigate.
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Without Sin ending explained
Stella (Vicky McClure) loses the support of Charles (Johnny Harris), her only ally in her dangerous search for Maisy's killer, when the McKellars threaten his only son Teddy (Kiern Burton).
Charles then discovers that Teddy was somehow mixed up with Maisy. His intel is scarce but he knows that if he and Stella continue probing into things not only will Teddy's involvement come to light, the McKellars will also kill his son and him.
However Stella is not deterred by the increasing danger. She is determined to go after Lee McKellar, who she believes was Maisy's boyfriend and the one responsible for her death and Cleo's disappearance.
It's too late for Charles though. He's ruffled too many feathers and so the McKellars order his cellmate Jamal to finish him off. Jamal, afraid for his own safety, stabs Charles, who then ends up in hospital.
It's unclear if Stella acts out of desperation, determination or both. In any case she proceeds to stalk Lee in her car and when he heads into a party she breaks into his and searches for clues.
She manages to get away with his backpack but Lee is alerted to the break-in by another party-goer and catches a glimpse of her car before she escapes.
Stella's high-risk attitude has huge rewards as she finds information on his burner phone containing an address that points to Cleo's possible whereabouts. She turns to her policeman friend Remy but when he opts to go down the longer, legal route, she acts on her own and heads to the location alone.
The place turns out to be a crack house (for all intents and purposes) littered with drug users mid-shooting up or sky high but there she finds Cleo, who had been locked away.
After breaking her out and persuading a scared Cleo to come with her, Stella attempts to take her back to her home. However when they arrive, Lee is outside waiting outside for more than just a friendly chat, one assumes.
Instead, Stella takes Cleo back to her ex-husband Paul's house and explains the messy situation with the McKellars that she is now wading through.
Who killed Maisy?
Stella encourages Cleo to rest but not long after she returns to the company of Maisy's parents ready to tell them what she knows of that fateful night.
Interspersed with flashbacks and Teddy's own conversational confession with his badly injured father, Cleo talks them through what happened.
Cleo and Maisy went to pick up drugs from Lee and Maisy's boyfriend (Teddy as it turns out) when they decided to go back to Maisy's house. There the truth of Cleo's secret fling with Teddy came to light and Maisy ended up rowing with Teddy.
She smacked and pushed him before turning on Cleo.
In her anger Maisy said the thing she knew would hurt Cleo the most, that her absentee, druggie mum doesn't want her.
Cleo was blinded by rage and without thinking bludgeoned Maisy on the head with a heavy ornament.
Maisy's death was instant. Not knowing what to do they called Lee's father, head of the McKellars' drug operations. He arranged the set up of Teddy's father Charles (who was working for the McKellars), unknown to Teddy. Meanwhile Cleo messaged Stella pretending to be a scared Maisy to corroborate their story of a break in.
This is the very message that has plagued Stella in the three years since Maisy's passing. The one she ignored in order to stay out drinking.
Stella loses it and tries to round on Cleo but is held back by Maisy dad Paul as they both break down in sobs, holding each other.
All the while Teddy apologies profusely to Charles, admitting that the only reason he allowed Charles to take the fall was because he knew he wouldn't survive in jail.
What happened with Stella and the McKellars?
Absolutely nothing – and it's unclear why.
Fast forward an undisclosed measure of time and Stella has agreed once more to participate in the prison's restorative justice programme. This time she does so with Paul (Perry Fitzpatrick) in order to find closure over Maisy's murder.
This time Cleo (not Charles) is at the other end of the table having been jailed for her crime, she now seeks to make amends by helping them move on.
Charles and Stella have formed what appears to be a loose friendship through trauma.
Charles is now a reformed drug dealer who is trying to become a better man for Teddy who is also in jail. He blames himself for setting Teddy on the wrong path and vows to be a better parent.
It's not stated what happened to Lee McKellar, but we assume that if the other two were locked up for Maisy's murder he would have been deemed culpable too and so would have received some jail time.
However, despite the McKellars being pegged as Nottingham's answer to the Mafia, Stella appears to have received no backlash for her meddlesome ways.
This is hugely contrary to the looming threatening presence the family were presented as for the entirety of the series.
Fear of repercussions is enough to dissuade Charles from helping Stella further. His actions even land him in hospital with a stab wound yet Stella receives not even a slap on the wrist for doing the thing they were warned against doing all along: outing the McKellars for their involvement in Maisy's death.
It is perhaps a grating end to an otherwise intriguing murder mystery.
All episodes of Without Sin are available to stream now on ITVX .
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
