The latest theories and developments for BBC’s The Missing – who is Adam Gettrick and what happened to Alice Webster?
IS it just us, or is The Missing getting more addictive - and more confusing - with each episode?
Episode five did not only end with an absolute shocker, it also opened up a whole new world of suspects, mystery family relations and theories about the BBC hit series. If you want to get up to speed on the latest character developments and plot twists, then check out our cheat sheet ahead of the next show. Warning: serious spoiler alert!
In a nutshell...
The BBC hit series follows the emotional fallout surrounding the abduction of British schoolgirl Alice Webster from the German army town of Eckhausen, where her family is stationed. The dramatic story swaps between 2014 and the present day, when Alice is found and taken home 11 years after her kidnapping.
Who’s who?
Julien Baptiste
After appearing in series one with James Nesbitt (whose son went missing while on holiday in France), renowned missing persons detective Baptiste is back from retirement. Unable to let go of another unsolved historic case – the disappearance of Sophie Giroux over a decade earlier – cynical Baptiste suspects that the girl claiming to be Alice is actually Sophie. But after he finds himself struggling to cope with a terminal brain tumour, Baptiste behaviour becomes more obsessive as he risks his life hunting for AWOL army recruit Daniel Reed in Syria. But why?
Alice Webster
In 2003, schoolgirl Alice was abducted from an English school near a military base in Germany. Eleven years later, she dramatically stumbled back into the town claiming to have escaped her captors, but has since been rousing suspicion. After Baptiste probed her about her real identity it was all too much for Alice, and in a dramatic scene that saw her get locked in a shed by her brother at her request, the young woman appeared to kill herself by setting fire to it while inside. However, following the gruesome incident, the same girl has been shown living in a trailer in a Swiss forest, seemingly disposing of what could be evidence giving away her true identy.
Gemma Webster
Played by Keeley Hawes, Gemma is the mother of Alice and lives with her husband Sam and their teenage son Matthew. Like Julien, she sensed that the girl who came back after years in captivity wasn’t her daughter, and after doing some detective work of her own found a picture of the girl who claimed to be Alice sitting next to her actual daughter on a roller coaster, taken during the time they were held captive. Despite DNA results proving that it was Sam’s daughter who died in the shed fire, in the present day Gemma continues to search for Alice, and even comes across a third girl who she thinks was also involved in the abduction…
Sam Webster
Military man Sam – played by David Morrissey – was beside himself with joy when his daughter returned and wasn't suspicious at all. However, others’ disbelief at Alice’s identity made him grow increasingly distant from the rest of his family. When the fire broke out, Sam ran into the flames in an attempt to save his daughter, but suffered horrific burns. In a traumatised state, he pushed away his wife and son and ended up seeking comfort by embarking on an affair with fellow military officer Eve Stone.
Matthew Webster
Just a child at the time his sister went missing, Matthew was the last person to see Alice before she was abducted. After Alice returned, she begged her little brother to lock her in the shed, claiming it was the only way she could drift off after years of sleeping on the floor. When it led to the blaze that killed her, Matthew blamed himself – which didn't help when it became clear dad Sam blamed him, too. In the present day, he’s estranged from Sam, barely on speaking terms with his mum and hanging out with a very dodgy pair of brothers.
Eve Stone
Sergeant Eve works as a military police officer on the Eckhausen base where the Websters live. She took charge of the case in 2014 while heavily pregnant, however it has since been revealed that she acted as a surrogate for her sister. With her father Brigadier Stone suffering from dementia, it’s clear she’s struggling to cope with his deteriorating state, and her affair with Sam Webster provides some release. Despite Sam's wife Gemma admitting to Eve that she knows about the affair, Sergeant Stone agrees to help her find out what really happened to Alice. However, as the plot continues to thicken, it appears that Eve might be an abduction victim herself.
Adrian Stone
The commander of the base in Eckhausen, Brigadier Stone is Eve’s father and also worked on the case in 2014. But his creepy behaviour is making him more suspicious by the week. Stone was seen threatening Alice to keep her mouth shut after her return and detective Baptiste believes he may have been responsible for the death of an Iraqi girl in the Nineties. A diagnosis of dementia has left Stone vulnerable and in a state of confusion - but could he be faking senility?
Daniel Reed
A young recruit worker who was tragically killed on the front line, it seems there is a lot more to Daniel’s story than meets the eye. Before he died, Daniel was investigating suspicious payments made by his father Henry, and discovered a dark secret. After tracking Daniel down in Iraq, detective Baptiste learnt the money was going to a man called Mirza Barzani. When Baptiste found Barzani, the museum worker told him: "Henry Reed made those payments out of guilt."
Henry Reed
Thought to have committed suicide, Daniel’s father was good friends with the highly suspicious Brigadier Stone, and seemed to share some sort of bond with the girl who claimed to return as Alice. Baptiste discovered that Alice took flowers to Henry’s grave before the fire, could he have killed himself out of guilt for his involvement in the abduction? Barzani's claims that he could never forgive Reed for what he did to his nine-year-old sister, as well as transsexual prostitute Ilsa's revelation that his car was moved after his death, all hint that he could have been murdered.
Kristian Hertz
Kristian is a butcher who lives in Germany with his ex-military-officer wife. He was dramatically arrested for the abduction of Alice Webster and Sophie Giroux in 2014 after Alice identified him as her captor. But one of Alice's last acts before she torched the shed was to make her brother Matthew promise that he’d tell Kristian that she was sorry. Sorry because she set him up? Maybe, but two years later Kristian is still in prison while his wife crumbles on the outside.
Nadia Hertz
Butcher Nadia was serving in Iraq in 1991 with Henry Reed and Brigadier Stone before settling down with Kristian. In 2014 she was brutally beaten following the arrest of her husband, but viewers pondered how the thugs knew that Kristian had been accused before a statement was released. While many, including Sergeant Eve, suspect angry brother Matthew had something to do with it, fans have also been speculating whether the attack was actually sending a message to Nadia to keep her mouth shut...
Jorn Lenhart
The German detective is a former police partner of Julien Baptiste and, while trying to find out more about the third girl in the rollercoaster picture – presumably called Lena Garber – stumbles across yet another huge plot twist that ends up costing him his life. Will his death lead Baptiste closer to uncovering the truth?
Adam Gettrick
A military press officer assigned to help the Webster family deal with press intrusion in 2014, in episode five Adam Gettrick suddenly shot from a minor supporting character to prime suspect at breakneck speed. A surprise visit from German detective Jorn Lenhart unveiled one of the biggest secrets of the show to date, the existence of a mystery little girl who might just be ‘Alice’ Webster’s daughter and had seemingly been held captive in a basement with her mother. The discovery also revealed a sinister side to Gettrick, who desperately tried to keep this particular skeleton in its closet by murdering Lenhart in one of the most gruesome ways we have ever witnessed on TV.
The Best Theories
#1 Press officer Gettrick is the ‘third man’ in the abduction case
A similar age to the other two suspects, Brigadier Stone and Henry Reed, the fact that Gettrick is hiding a little girl who draws creepy images of her and her ‘mummy’ trapped in a basement and is willing to kill to protect this secret has many viewers thinking he at least plays a part in the disappearance of Alice, Sophie and Lena.
#2 ‘Alice’ is Sophie, and Lena was burnt in the shed
Okay, so this is a serious mindbender even if you have been watching the show religiously. With three missing girls to consider, there are endless variations on ‘who is who’, but the most popular theory is that it is Sophie Giroux posing as current day Alice Webster, and that either Sophie or the real Alice are the mother of the girl from the basement. And Lena Garber is believed to be the woman who burnt to death in the shed fire. However, it wouldn’t be The Missing if all of this couldn’t change in the next episode!
#3 Sam has a daughter with another woman
Viewers have been speculating whether the fact the DNA of ‘Alice’ was only matched with Sam Webster, rather than both parents, could have more significance. And after Sam’s extra-marital affairs with Sergeant Eve, could the body found in the shed be the product of another affair? And if it was really Lena Garber who died in the fire, is she Alice's half sister?
#4 Eve Stone is an abduction victim
While the mystery of Sergeant Eve’s past pregnancy was solved in episode five – she supposedly was a surrogate to her sister – fans of the show strongly believe that a) she hasn’t got a sibling and b) Brigadier Stone is not her real father. Instead, the most popular theory seems to be that Eve herself was abducted from Iraq by a criminal military ring.
Episode six of The Missing airs tonight at 9pm on BBC1.