April 21, 6:31 PM. DS Sarah Collins (Gemma Whelan) learns there have been two fatalities at Portland Tower and one is a police officer. DC Steve Bradshaw (Jimmy Akingbola) admits he knows nothing more than what control has told them. Once they arrive, Sarah notices more people on the roof so she decides to go up there while leaving Steve on the ground. Sarah finds the bodies of PC Hadley Matthews (Nick Holder) and Farah Mehenni (Lola Elsokari) on the ground before heading inside. When she reaches the rooftop, she finds DI Kieran Shaw (Emmett Scanlan), with PC Lizzie Adama (Tahirah Sharif), and Ben Stoddard (Rex Parry). When asked what he is doing up there, Kieran says one of his officers is dead, another saved a child, and he wants to make sure no one else falls off the roof. Sarah calls for a LAS for Lizzie who is likely in shock.

When Sarah walks by with Ben, Lizzie tries to get out of the ambulance before being told to sit back down. Carrie Stoddard (Sally Scott) arrives to get Ben and asks what Farah did to her son. Gemma offers to have the doctor examine him, but Carrie just wants to get the boy home. Once they’re gone, Steve tells Sarah that Farah grabbed the boy from home and took him to the top of the tower. Two cops got the call and tried to stop her from doing whatever she was going to do. As a result, she fell with a cop. Sarah rambles off a list of tasks that must be completed, including getting any phone footage they can find, getting the phones of the officers, and having the liaison officer Alice Parker (Harriet Webb) meet her there. She also wants to make sure they get a statement from Lizzie since she was up there and likely saw what happened.

Steve checks on her seconds later and gives her his card. Since she isn’t ready to talk, Steve offers to check back in later. Then, Kieran sits with Lizzie to tell her the crime scene team will be taking her uniform and giving her something to wear. When Lizzie says she wants to go home, Kieran tells her to wait to see what the medics have to say first. He admits that isn’t his call since DSI is running the investigation now. She keeps saying she wants to go home. Tim Bailie (Karl Davies) approaches Sarah to talk about the mess they have. He tells her that Hadley was 52 and Farah was 15, and Farah’s father Younes (Nabil Elouahabi) is locked in jail. Kieran takes Lizzie home and offers to go inside with her, but she refuses. Sarah goes to the station to talk to the custody sergeant (Joe Macaulay) about seeing Younes because she wants him released on compassionate grounds.

She also wants Alice to seal the lockers belonging to Lizzie and Hadley. The officers aren’t happy with the way things are going and how Sarah is treating the officers. She explains she is only there to find out why Hadley died and not to dig up dirt. Sarah approaches Younes and tells him who she is. Younes refuses to believe it and thinks his daughter is in school although he soon finds out the truth. The custody sergeant reminds Sarah that Hadley is dead before asking whether she told his family and cried with them. Lizzie gets a call from Steve who wants to chat with her still. When Sarah calls him, Steve explains she went home as soon as the medics released her and a police car took her. Sarah learns Kieran allowed it as she worries that they might have a crap storm ahead of them. Sarah tries to find the office they set up for them, but it seems she was lied to.

She tells Steve that Lizzie is the one who arrested Farah’s father as he knocks on Lizzie’s door. Sarah orders Steve to kick the door down. He breaks in but finds that Lizzie is not there. Next, Kieran talks to the officers about the loss of Hadley Matthews. He tells them how Hadley looked after him when he was a new cop and how they’ll have to get his wife Mandy to identify the body. When asked about DSI, Kieran says they have nothing to hide. He recommends answering their questions so they can go. He also reminds everyone they’ll be going to the pub on Friday night to celebrate their friend. Sarah meets with Steve at Lizzie’s place and learns Lizzie was on the job six months and was mates with Hadley Matthews.

They look at Lizzie’s graduation picture before Sarah admits her parents didn’t come to hers because they were disappointed well before that. They ask DC Jez Vine (Jim English) whether someone might’ve grabbed Lizzie, but he doubts it since she took makeup and toothpaste. Steve suggests going public to find her although Sarah thinks she should talk to Kieran first. We see Lizzie driving around at night and we jump back in the past. Lizzie and Hadley make a bet about breakfast while Hadley jokes about his body type. Mandy identifies the body and leaves after Sarah shows up. Kieran tells her she is out of line if she is there to speak to Mandy. She is there to speak to him though. She asks him about authorizing Lizzie to go home so he explains she needed a break. He isn’t sure where she’d go. When she recommends going public with it, Kieran encourages her not to do that because it would ruin her career and risk her life.

He explains she is a significant witness in a sex trafficking case. The suspect, Laszlo Kovacs, is missing and dangerous. When she asks how it is linked to Kovacs, Kieran says his phone was activated near Portland Tower today. He encourages her to check it out. Then, we jump back nine days before the fall when Lizzie and Hadley visit the Stoddard residence. She tells them that her son Ben thinks he is a bear so he keeps wearing the bear costume. While serving tea, she explains her neighbor, Younes Mehenni, knocked the rubbish bins over multiple times before getting rude. He has also been damaging her vehicle so she and Ben no longer feel comfortable in their home. She shows them a video of Younes scratching her vehicle. When Sarah visits Carrie, she is reminded she doesn’t want the police and prefers them not to question Ben.

Carrie explains she called the cops because her life was becoming unlivable there. Then, Farah kidnapped her little boy and took him to the top of the tower. Carrie suggests they did it because her whole family was mad before admitting she doesn’t care what they’ve been through since she nearly killed her son. Although Sarah tries to convince Carrie to let them talk to Ben, she refuses. In another flashback, Lizzie and Hadley visit the Mehenni house and talk to an older lady who doesn’t know English. When Lizzie steps out back, she sees the tower in the distance and Ben sitting on his back porch. The older woman tries to get Lizzie to use the phone and translate for her as Farah steps inside. Lizzie watches as Hadley talks to Farah before he grabs the phone. He tells the person on the phone that they don’t need a warrant because Mrs. Mehenni invited them in.

Younes steps inside and sees the officers before running outside. Lizzie chases him on foot while Hadley gets the cruiser. Farah gets in front of the squad car and prevents Hadley from chasing down her father. Lizzie holds her while Hadley goes after Younes. She says her name is Farah and pleads with Lizzie not to hurt her father. Sarah visits Kieran again to learn that Younes was arrested for criminal damage and threatening phone calls. DI Shaw believes Farah took the boy because she had a screw loose and Hadley and Lizzie were heroes for saving them. Once again, he tells Sarah he is worried about Lizzie who could be at risk due to Kovacs. While Lizzie is shown on the beach, Sarah listens to the 999 calls from the day of the incident. Kieran listens as Sarah tells Steve to go to bed and get in as early as possible. Then, he calls his boss and complains about DS Sarah Collins acting like Little Red Riding Hood.

He tells Tim it is an open and shut case because Farah was crazy. Then, he warns Tim about Sarah wanting to go public with Lizzie and how that would expose her to Kovacs. Sarah gets a call from Angie who complains about her baby not sleeping. Angie encourages her to start looking for someone because there are plenty of fish in the sea. Sarah responds she liked the one she had before the baby cries and the call ends. In another flashback, Kieran tells Hadley and Lizzie that Carrie has been making a lot of calls and even got in touch with the Chief Superintendent because Younes called her last night and told her to back off or else. Kieran orders them to go arrest Mehenni. Next, Steve meets with Sarah who spent the night working because she wanted to get the timelines clear.

Lizzie withdrew money in Peckham last night although they haven’t tracked her down yet. She tells Steve about Kovacs and the girl he beat up named Cosmina Baicu. Steve is tasked with looking into the Kovacs case to determine whether he is a factor. Then, she tells him about the 999 calls and the fact they never heard from the two cops on the roof. Lizzie wasn’t wearing her body cam, Hadley never turned his on, and they didn’t radio in when they arrived. They also never responded to calls from control. She explains Carrie called 999 to report her son missing at 17:36. It went over the radio at 17:40. Hadley dropped what he was doing and immediately went to the tower like he knew what was going on. Tim interrupts to tell them they’re going to be releasing the names of the deceased to the press this morning. He refuses to give them permission to go public with Lizzie’s disappearance and hopes Sarah isn’t overcomplicating this.

Tim believes a disturbed teenager stole a child and only the heroic action of a 27-year veteran of the force prevents an even worse tragedy. He encourages them to wrap his up and get back to Victoria House as quickly as possible. Sarah says they’re going to check Farah’s postmortem next. When that happens, they find a note in Farah’s pocket with a phone number on it. In a flashback, Lizzie approaches Farah to tell her they’re not going to go away. Farah argues Carrie is only trying to get them chucked out. Lizzie says it would be better if her father came in and talked on his on and he might only get a warning. Lizzie promises to be there if he comes and gives Farah her phone number so she can make sure she is there when he arrives. Steve returns to Sarah to confirm the phone number was Lizzie’s until she changed it two days ago. As for Kovacs, the phone trace at the tower didn’t belong to him and was instead a low-grade associate.

He reveals the organized crime guys doubt Kovacs is even in the country now. They wonder if Kieran was trying to send them down a rabbit hole before they realize Lizzie’s phone has gone missing. She gets upset when she learns nobody has searched their lockers yet and makes that her next priority. We jump back to seven days before the fall and Lizzie visits Kieran who has a rose tattoo on his arm. He tells Lizzie that Younes’s solicitor is making a complaint about illegal entry and Hadley allegedly saying something to Farah. When Kieran learns she wasn’t with him all the time and her body cam wasn’t recording, he says it is fine because they’ll be able to sort it out. They agree to be at Sergeant Tomo’s leaving party. When Kieran leaves, Farah calls Lizzie and tells her Younes is coming to the station right now. She wants to make sure the big policeman won’t be there although Lizzie can’t promise that. Sarah and Steve search the lockers and find nothing of interest.

Steve takes the key because he has an idea. He approaches Debs to return the master key, distracts her, and snaps pictures of the log sheet. Outside, Steve explains Shaw notified control he was putting up for the 999 call at the power at 17:52. Seven minutes before that, he signed out the master key to the lockers. They approach Tim and request to put Kieran Shaw under surveillance. They detail their theory but Tim says he is going to need more than a locker key to get RIPA authority to put a respected officer under surveillance. When Steve is asked to leave, Tim asks Sarah if everything is going okay at home since her ex just had a baby and they were together for a long time. Although he thinks her judgment is being clouded, she argues they’re pushing all the blame on a deranged teenager. He asks if she ever wonders why she is still a DS at this age.

Steve interrupts to tell Sarah about Lizzie renting a car. Jaz tracked the car down. Before they go, Tim tells her she is lucky and ends up repeating it. Lizzie listens to the news report about the Mehenni family and the fact they had trouble settling into the community. Tim calls Shaw to ask him if he is hiding anything and whether he searched their lockers during the tower incident. He says he isn’t hiding anything and he searched their lockers. He says he did it because they never know what police are hiding there and he didn’t want the hero cop to look like a sex addict if they found porn in his locker. Mary Shaw (Laurie Delaney) listens as Kieran says he didn’t find anything in their lockers. Tim tells him they should be bringing in Lizzie soon. When the call ends, Mary asks if Lizzie is the pretty young officer and Kieran confirms that is her.

Lizzie finds out the detectives have tracked her down so she tries to flee. Once she steps outside, Sarah approaches and tells her they only want to talk to her. She runs away before Sarah says they’re done protecting Lizzie. She wants her face on every TV in the country. As the episode ends, we see that Kieran has a cellphone with a heart on it which means it is Farah’s phone.

 

The Tower Review

While The Tower has an interesting premise, the story is far too contrived. It is overfilled with stereotypical one-dimensional characters that give away their secrets much too soon. When DI Kieran Shaw started strutting around the street like Conor McGregor, I knew immediately he was up to no good. Unfortunately, there is no mystery or suspense.

Viewers can already tell who is going to end up on the right side and wrong side based simply on their recent actions and stereotypes. It was sadly a missed opportunity with excellent performers but weak dialogue and unrealistically shallow characters. It could get better although my hopes are low. The opening episode scores a 6 out of 10. The Tower recaps will be available on Reel Mockery here.