As this episode of Stay Close begins, Ken (Hyoie O’Grady) and Barbie (Poppy Gilbert) corner Harry Sutton in the street. They dance before approaching Harry (Eddie Izzard) and saying they have great news. He hopes it isn’t about God because he hasn’t believed in that in a long time. After Barbie says it isn’t that, Harry brushes past and makes a run for it. Ken chases him on foot while Barbie goes for the car. Harry manages to hide and avoid detection until Ken leaves in the car with Barbie. After the intro, Megan Pierce (Cush Jumbo) tries to call Harry, but only gets his voicemail message. Michael Broome (James Nesbitt) stops Megan’s car before she can drive away. He can’t believe she is here. Regardless, she isn’t going to talk to him until Harry arrives. She promises to tell Broome everything although they’ll need to find Harry first.

They find him locked in his office seconds later. He lets them in, locks the door behind them, and offers them coffee. Once they sit down, Megan says she is doing this to keep her family safe and she’ll tell Broome what she knows about that night with Stewart. After she spills what she knows, she intends to disappear again and asks them not to contact her. Broome agrees to that and she starts by saying she doesn’t know where Stewart Green is. Before they vanished, he was obsessed with her. She makes it clear that they weren’t seeing each other. She describes Stewart as a psychopath although she thought he was a good guy at first. He stalked her, beat her, and threatened to kill her when she started seeing someone new. When questioned by Michael, she won’t say whether the new guy was Ray Levine (Richard Armitage).

Once he learned, Stewart made her life hell. She threatened to tell his wife although that made him even more aggressive. While Michael believes she could’ve come to the police, Megan doesn’t think they’d believe her over the family man. On the night she disappeared, she went up to the old ruins by Vipers just to get away from everything for a minute. When she got there, she found a body covered in blood. It was Stewart and he looked dead at the time. She didn’t want to be a suspect so she ran and started a new life. She hasn’t been Cassie since then. Harry won’t let Michael question her about Ray. As for the person she was seeing, she doesn’t know where he was because she never saw him again. That person didn’t know that Stewart was abusing her though. Harry quickly stops Broome from asking Megan where she went from there. She came back because someone she trusts said they saw Stewart recently. She refuses to say who that might be.

It happened last week at Vipers. Megan admits she went to Stewart’s place and it felt like something was off like he was living in the basement. She broke into the house technically during the second visit although that was Harry’s idea. Broome listens as Megan says there is a door at the back of the basement where his wife is likely hiding something. Then, he wants to make sure she is telling him everything because he can’t help her otherwise. She hands him something while explaining a man with a shaved head gave it to her 11-year-old son. He looks at the picture of Megan when she was dancing as Cassie. Michael says this isn’t good before agreeing to do everything he can to protect Megan and her son, but she tells him not to go anywhere near her son. When Megan gets back into her car, she sends a message to Lorraine Griggs (Sarah Parish). Fester (Youssef Kerkour) joins Ray while logging his steps using a fitness app. He sits down and tells Ray he is sorry about Cassie who he hates for putting him through all that. Ray admits it has been a strange 24 hours because something about this doesn’t feel real.

He asks Fester to track down a number plate for him. He says it was in the woods with two teenage girls and he thinks one of them was there that night at Vipers with the kid who disappeared. Ray realizes the picture isn’t much help, but says it is suspicious because the girl and her friend ran away when he approached them. Although Fester doesn’t take it too serious, he agrees to help track the number plate anyway. Michael Broome contacts Erin Cartwright (Jo Joyne) to tell her everything Megan said about Stewart. He believes Stewart is an abusive psycho, but he also thinks there is more to the story. Erin speculates that the blood at the ruins is Guy Tatum’s instead of Carlton’s. Next, Megan shows up at the Vipers where he approaches Lorraine. Megan calls it a goodbye visit since it has to be the last time she sees her.

Once Lorraine says she is fine, Megan claims the worst thing about being a mother is the fact her happiness is totally dependent on the happiness of her children. She laughs when Lorraine tells her that sounds like an abusive relationship. Megan looks over, spots an empty chair, and begins thinking about seeing Ray there. Lorraine remembers whose seat it was and admits she has seen him briefly. She panicked and told him that Megan was dead. Lorraine says she can see him if she wants. He is still working as a photographer but doing something a lot less classy than porn. She gives Megan a business card for Ray that says paparazzi for hire. When she returns home and hops into bed, Dave (Daniel Francis) asks her where she has been. She claims she has been here and only got up to use the bathroom only for him to call her a liar. The next day, Erin asks a colleague to look into the photographs for her. Michael joins Erin by the screen which is displaying the missing men.

He questions whether Stewart could’ve done this if Megan is telling the truth about him. Michael thinks they need to talk to Ray since he knew Stewart and Guy. They stop for food because Erin forgot to eat when Seamus had diarrhea all over the changing table. When she leaves the car, Broome contacts Lorraine but she doesn’t answer his call. Michael admits he likes Lorraine a lot and wants to be with her. He quickly tells her it is DS Broome before Erin returns and gets in with their breakfast. Then, they head to Ray’s place and catch him just before he can leave. Once he lets them inside, he is asked about being out with Guy Tatum (Thomas Dominique) before he disappeared. He claims they went out drinking and got separated so he suspected Guy would make it home on his own. Once Simona came by looking for him, he knew otherwise. Erin asks where they were drinking to which Ray says the Weak Signal on the high street. He dropped him off at the Vipers because he wanted to stay out. Michael asks about the pictures of Cassie he has on his wall.

He asks whether there were hard feelings about Cassie running off with another man although Ray says that was just speculation. We see a quick flashback that looks like Ray covered in blood as he admits he’d like to know what happened too. He denies having seen Stewart or Cassie since that night. Erin changes the conversation to his camera while claiming her husband is starting to dabble in photography. Ray says he normally uses a Nikon D4, but he has an old Canon with him right now. He says he was Simona’s friend and really didn’t know Guy so he doesn’t think he has any helpful information for them. He gets Michael’s card just in case he thinks of anything else later. When Dave returns home, he notices the dirt that fell from his boots. We see a flashback of him pushing a car into the water. He walks in as Kayleigh (Bethany Antonia), Laura (Tallulah Byrne), and Jordan (Dylan Francis) dance for a camera. The girls say they’ve been working on this dance forever and Jordan keeps bothering them.

Megan dances with them before Dave gets involved too. Once the dancing stops, Megan looks toward the door and sees someone moving around outside. She rushes out there only to find Harry walking away from her house. He says he wanted to see the life she created for herself before explaining how he found her address. When Dave comes out, Harry says he just wants to say hello and leave. She pretends Harry was her Spanish teacher from college. He is invited inside so Dave can hear about some embarrassing stories. Once he is taken inside, he is promptly introduced to the kids. He tells the kids that he taught their mother Spanish although they don’t believe she can speak Spanish. Kayleigh leaves and joins her friend outside. She tells her friend that some sketchy guy is in there claiming to be her mom’s college Spanish teacher.

Bea plays a joke on her before they leave. Back inside, Harry learns about the girls’ dance routine so he tries performing with Laura. After spending the day with Megan and her family, Harry is dropped off by Megan a bit later. He thanks her for today. When he walks into his office, Megan watches and Barbie and Ken show up as well. Broome tracks Lorraine’s phone and tracks her to the clinic. They sit together elsewhere. Lorraine tells Broome it is terminal. Once he apologizes, she promises she is okay with it because she has had a good life. He asks how much time she has left. Lorraine insists he doesn’t have to do this although he wants to. Broome insists he wants to be there for her. She agrees to let him see her later. At work, Michael finds out that someone has been using his milk. Erin interrupts to say the printer in Ray’s flat was used to print the photos sent to them anonymously.

Broome says they need to bring him in immediately. Since Harry hasn’t locked his door, Ken and Barbie enter and confront him. Barbie hits him with a stun gun before telling Ken to tie his legs first. She promises the pain will be kept to a minimum if he cooperates. Harry is asked about the witness regarding Carlton Flynn. After Megan gets back home, she discovers that Harry left his scarf in her house. She tries to call him, but Barbie answers the phone and says Harry is busy dealing with a client. Ray is questioned why he didn’t mention the pictures earlier. He says they just didn’t come up. He confesses to sending the pictures although he is only trying to help out. The one of the missing boy was taken last Friday and the blood on Monday. The photo of Carlton was taken on April 16, 2021 on the same night he last saw Guy Tatum alive.

Broome believes this is a good opportunity for Ray to tell them everything that happened on the 16th. He starts by saying they drank a few beers at his place before they ended up at the Weak Signal. At some point, he went home because he had to work the next day. When pressed on the matter, he suggests it was around 10 or 11 when he left. Since it was before midnight, Guy wanted to stay out and Ray knew Vipers always had a big party at Carnival so he dropped him there. Although he claims Guy seemed fine at the time, a flashback shows a possible fight. He knows the old ruins at the back of Vipers because he often takes landscape photos. He went there to get some shots in before going home. He didn’t remember anyone else being in the woods that night until he went through the photographs the next day. When asked about taking a three-grand-camera on casual nights out, Ray says he does take it with him.

He used to take it everywhere with him until he was mugged the morning after all this. They were after the camera which they got, but the photos were uploaded to the cloud so Ray still had them. When he went through them, he saw the picture of Carlton from the night before. As for the blood, he took that picture when he went back to the woods to look for himself. He initially thought the boy had too much to drink. Once he found the blood, he took the photos and got them to the police as quickly as possible. Broome throws in a curveball by saying the blood was Guy’s and not Carlton’s. He is stunned by that claim. Broome wants to know why he’d send the photos in anonymously. Ray says someone smashed him over the head with a crowbar to keep the photo hidden. As a result, he just wanted to stay out of it. He goes to the woods occasionally. He doesn’t think Stewart hung around in those woods.

After the interview ends, Broome asks Erin if she saw his face when he asked him about seeing Stewart Green in the woods. He is confident that Broome is lying about something, but he just isn’t sure what he is lying about yet. Michael says he has somewhere to be and rushes off. Erin puts Ray’s photo on the board with the others. A distraught Ray heads to the pub where he tells Fester to give him something to drink. He is worried the police think he killed Guy and has something to do with the missing kid and Stewart Green. Ray wonders if they’re right because he doesn’t know what happens when he is blacked out. When he says he’d give anything to know what happened that night, Fester reveals he turned up here the morning after Cassie disappeared and he was covered in blood. He was catatonic and just looked right through Fester.

He finally went to sleep and was out for hours. Once he woke up, he couldn’t remember anything that had happened. Fester goes on to say Ray hasn’t been the same since that happened. Ray can’t believe he wouldn’t tell him sooner. Regardless, Fester doesn’t believe Ray is a killer although Ray isn’t sure about that anymore. He gives Ray the information about the number plate as we see a quick flashback of Ray taking the picture of it. Michael shows up at Niall Green’s house to ask if they’re still on for dinner, but he thinks it is tomorrow since she is at a book club meeting tonight. Before he leaves, Michael claims to have left something in the basement so he can look around. Megan checks her messages from Harry only to find that he hasn’t responded. She leaves Broome a message asking him to check on Harry.

As Michael searches the basement, he finds pictures and the door Megan mentioned earlier. He grabs a crowbar to see if he can open it. Ray tracks down the yellow car just in time to see Kayleigh and Bea (Rachel Andrews) get into it. He follows Bea’s car until she stops and drops Kayleigh off at home. Ray spots Megan outside while Michael tries to open the basement door. We see luggage or something sitting on the ground. We see Harry sitting in his chair from behind. Ray gets out of his car. Broome opens the suitcase and finds several stacks of money inside. He finds something else under it. Harry is shown with a needle sticking in his arm. The item Broome picked up was a suitcase tag with Stewart’s name and an address on it. Ray and Megan look at one another until the episode ends.

 

Stay Close Review

With this cast, one would expect so much more from Stay Close. I certainly did. As this episode dragged on without anything significant happening, my hope for the show dwindled down to nothing. At points, it feels like it could be so much better and there is likely an interesting story in there somewhere. Unfortunately, it is obviously muddled by the overloaded cast of characters and drawn-out dialogue scenes in which little if anything happens.

There is still time for this to improve and I sincerely hope it does, but I have a bad feeling it won’t. The episode was painfully slow so I doubt it would’ve held my attention if I wasn’t recapping it. It scores a 6 out of 10. Stay Close recaps can be found on Reel Mockery here.