Vigil final episode: Who killed Craig Burke and what happened?

27 September 2021, 08:45

Who killed Burke in the final episode of BBC's Vigil? Here's what happened...

**Warning BBC Vigil episode six spoilers below**

BBC's hit TV series Vigil came to a dramatic end on Sunday, with viewers finally getting to the truth of Craig Burke’s mysterious death.

But if your missed the last episode of the drama, here’s what happened...

• Vigil episode guide: How many episodes are there and when is the BBC drama on?
• Vigil cast: Who is in the thriller series and where have you seen them before?
• When was Vigil filmed?

Who killed Craig Burke in Vigil?

Just eight minutes into the series, Chief Petty Officer Craig Burke (Martin Compston) was found dead in his bunk on HMS Vigil.

At first, it was suspected that he had a heroin overdose, but DCI Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) quickly found that drugs had been planted to cover up the death.

Silva originally thought Burke had hit his head during a fight with Lt Commander Mark Prentice (Adam James), but soon realised he’d been poisoned.

It turns out that chef Jackie Hamilton (Anita Vettesse) was forced into putting a nerve agent in Burke's food which killed him, in return for her son getting out of jail.

Jackie then accidentally released the nerve agent, killing herself in the process.

Vigil - Trailer - BBC

But why was Burke killed? Well, he was putting together a dossier on Navy corruption and refused to help Russian intelligence operative Peter Ingles (Sam Redford) or Pietr.

During questioning, Pietr said: "I was told what Jackie was going to do in exchange for getting her son out.

“There is a guy at the peace camp - he told Russians to approach Burke however Burke turned them down flat."

Burke’s death meant a replacement sonar operator had to be flown out in the form of evil CPO Matthew Doward (Lorne MacFadyen).

In the finale, Matthew continued his attempt to force Vigil to surface, so the Russians could carry out their plans.

What else happened at the end of Vigil?

There was so much going on during the final episode it was hard to keep up.

After being found out, Doward tried to kill Elliot Glover (Shaun Evans), who had been exposed to the nerve agent but he was interrupted at the last minute.

Elsewhere, detective Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) was also in danger after she was trapped in the torpedo tube.

Luckily, she was able to use morse code to get the crews attention and Lieutenant Commander Mark Prentice (Adam James) came to her rescue,

When Doward then showed up, Prentice sacrificed himself to save Silva and was stabbed by Doward, proving that he was one of the good guys.

The crew were finally able to apprehend Doward and he was arrested.

Ben Oakley (Cal MacAninch) who was also arrested for the conspiracy of murdering Jade Antoniak (Lauren Lyle) and he admitted that Peter Ingles had killed her.

At the end of the episode, Amy and Kirsten were reunited and they were able to visit Poppy (Orla Russell) together for the first time.