As the third episode of The Serial Killer’s Wife begins, Beth Fairchild (Annabel Scholey) remembers going to the club with Tom (Jack Farthing). DI Aline Edgeworth (Angela Giffin) gets Beth to sign paperwork at the police station. Beth is asked if Ollie (Eben Figueiredo) yelled at her for reporting him. She claims he said nothing else before he died. Before Beth leaves, Aline asks if she knows Phoebe Alderton. Superintendent Garland (Tim Daish) thanks Beth before she is finally allowed to leave. Garland reminds Aline that the case is closed and Ollie had motive, means, and opportunity. At home, Tom asks Beth if she managed to get any sleep. She says not really because she hadn’t seen a dead person before.

Tom suggests Ollie brought it on himself, but Beth isn’t sure since he said he just took her handbag. She asks if he was lying when he said he saw Tom out running that night. Beth admits she was with Poppy upstairs so he could’ve been anywhere. She gives him one chance to tell the truth before she goes to the police. Tom confesses to lying to the police because they were having an affair and Katy was suing him. He swears on Poppy’s life that he had nothing to do with her murder. He doesn’t want to tell the truth and says Beth is the only one who knows. Beth urges Tom to tell them. Tom says that’d mean he’d have to tell them that she was complicit in the lie. He’d hate for both of them to end up in prison.

When Poppy comes down, Tom reveals he is going to the parent-teacher meeting. Aline asks if partner if she goes clubbing much. She has dated a few DJs. Aline is trying hard to get something on the club. She’d like to speak to DJs who may have played there. Beth visits Adam (Luke Treadaway) to ask about Tom being a good liar. On the night Katy was killed, Beth thought Tom was in his office but he wasn’t. Instead, Tom was running on the beach. Adam suggests he just forgot since it is hard to remember what you do. Beth is worried since the policewoman made her sign a statement saying Tom was home all night. She isn’t sure why Aline would bring up Phoebe. Beth admits she lied to the police. She doesn’t tell people she met Tom in a bar in a sex club.

That’s where she met Phoebe as well. When Aline asked her about Phoebe, she panicked and pretended she didn’t know her. Beth met her when Phoebe was dating Tom. The three of them had fun together. After a month or two, Phoebe stopped coming so Beth and Tom started seeing each other exclusively. She convinces him to check on the phone she gave him. Aline gets in touch with Jada to ask about her DJ friend. Jada says her friend came up with a name, Anneka Kovalenko. She ran a bar where he believes The Vault took place a few times. Aline visits Anneka who says The Vault is like an urban legend. Aline explains she needs the membership list because two people are dead. Anneka says it is held once a month in different locations. They sent out the details by text.

She has a list of members in her studio upstairs. Aline tells DS Mike Pearson (Benjamin O’Mahony) that Tom has been a member of an illegal sex club like Phoebe Alderton was. She suggests putting it in the press to see who might come forward. Clover (Julie Graham) tells Beth she is glad she is okay. She insists she is there and happy to help. Beth is surprised to learn that Libby (Elizabeth Roberts) has been waiting for her. Libby says Beth convinced her to go to the police but she knew Ollie and he wasn’t capable of murder. She has been wondering why someone would want Ollie to take the blame. Libby quits before leaving. Later, someone eggs the restaurant. Beth and Clover begin arguing. Clover says she couldn’t go to the police because they were her mates.

Beth reminds her she never got to hear her dad’s side. At home, Tom tells Beth that the story is on the Internet. She insists she didn’t say anything. Beth asks if it says that he used to strangle Phoebe. Tom says they need to keep face now as he prepares to go to the PTA meeting. He asks if she’d rather have everyone gossip behind her back. Aline calls Jada to see if she found any missing people on the membership list. Jada says one woman drowned in Thailand and a woman named Ella Jones is missing. Ella disappeared back in 2011 while studying at Durham. Jada admits most of the names are fake so most of them probably don’t want to be traced. At the PTA meeting, Adam tells Beth that he has her phone. Tom joins them before Kiran begins the meeting.

Beth goes to the bathroom to check the phone before overhearing other women talking about her. She goes out and tells them to give it a whirl because they might like it. Beth becomes distraught when she watches the videos on the phone. During the PTA meeting, Tim Holden is named the new governor. Beth tells Adam she needs to go with him because Poppy left her PE kit, but Tom convinces her to go home. Later that night, Beth goes out while Tom is asleep. She goes to Adam and tells him that she has protected Tom for too long. Beth says she saw how he was with Phoebe and he went too far. She tells Adam that Tom used the phone to film himself choking all those women. Adam pleads with her to show him whatever she found on the phone.

Beth eventually says it is Marnie. Adam becomes upset when he watches the video. He asks why Tom would film Marnie dying. Adam wants to call the police, but Beth wants to get Poppy away from Tom first. He offers to take her to his boss’s holiday place in Sussex. Aline takes Pearson to the place Katy last saw. She wonders if Ollie was actually responsible. Aline tells him about Ella. She explains that Ella got hurt on a bike in Oxford and must’ve met Fairchild at the hospital. Two months later, she was last seen boarding a bus to Oxford. Aline believes she can speak to the guy who owns the house and get the chance to search it. Beth hangs out with Tom at home. He says it sounds like she wants to get rid of him.

Tom is going to go in late. Beth tries to get rid of him. Tom eventually agrees to drop off stuff at the café. Pearson says there was no construction work of any kind besides a new kitchen. He seemed more interested in talking about gardening and the shed which was left by the renters. Aline finds that odd. She calls the Chief to say they need an excavation team. Beth finds a slur on the back of her mail. Tom confronts Adam to ask why Beth was there before he attacks him. Tom quickly gets the better of him until Adam tackles him from behind. Beth gets Poppy ready to leave until Tom enters with blood on his shirt. She manages to send Poppy away. Tom reveals he got the phone back. Aline is told they’ve found something at the dig site. It looks like a skull.

Aline tells Pearson to phone in and get Fairchild back in. Tom accuses Beth of plotting with Adam all this time. He reminds her that she lied about the phone. Beth says she lied for him and gave him an alibi. She accuses him of killing Marnie, but Tom claims not to be responsible. Beth ends up hitting him with a skillet. Adam comes in and yells that he’s called the police before Tom attacks him again. Beth stabs Tom in the back. Tom gets in his car and drives away. Adam tells Beth they need to get to the police. They go after Tom in Adam’s car. Beth pleads with Adam to slow down. Tom loses control throwing dirt on their windshield. Something lands in the water below. Later, Beth and the others learn that no one is in the car.

 

The Serial Killer’s Wife Review

The third episode of The Serial Killer’s Wife was pretty much in line with the previous episodes besides a lackluster fight scene and short car chase. The story isn’t particularly original or inspiring and many of the twists are overdone by this point. Much of the story comes across as appallingly unauthentic because the characters are often so shallow.

Truthfully, there isn’t anything unique about The Serial Killer’s Wife that warranted the story being adapted into a television series. Anyone who has watched a few hours of television in the past year will have seen all of this before. Those who really don’t watch television will probably have better luck swallowing the absurdity of The Serial Killer’s Wife.

It is hard to know what those in charge saw in the story that made it any different than 85% of British dramas at this point. The series has all the familiar tidbits, including a wealthy couple with a perfect relationship, hidden secrets, a relentless detective, an unbelievable secret, and a god-awful amount of dialogue.

This isn’t necessarily the worst of the bunch, but it easily ranks near the low end of the group despite a somewhat promising past. The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of The Serial Killer’s Wife can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here. Discuss this series and more at the Reel Mockery Forum.