Episode 5

Catherine and Ann Gallagher go out for a long drunken night, and the show gives them the room to be messy and unguarded in it. Two women who have both been through the wringer, letting off steam in a way that won't survive contact with morning. But the episode's other preparation is happening somewhere quieter: Frances Drummond makes the petrol bomb she plans to throw through Catherine's window. Shirley Henderson builds the thing with the care of a hobbyist, which is worse than any melodrama.

Elsewhere the case lurches forward. Daniel suspects somebody at school is behind Ryan's new-found interest in Tommy, and tries to explain that he was never really a dad to the boy. Jodie and John receive permission to charge Sean with all the murders, despite his protests of innocence. The relief is short-lived. Another body is found in the early hours.

Then, in the middle of the night, Daryl wakes a stunned Alison and confesses to murder, right there at the breakfast table. It is the episode's best scene and its worst news, all at once.

Daniel's worry about Ryan is the episode's quietest thread and one of its best. A boy suddenly fascinated by the father who was never there is a classic worry, and the episode treats it seriously without turning it into a lecture. Daniel has spent years being the less complicated Cawood, and this hour reminds him, and us, that nobody in this family gets to stay simple.

Sally Wainwright wrote and directed it. Sarah Lancashire is Catherine, Charlie Murphy is Ann, Shirley Henderson is Frances, Kevin Doyle is John, Katherine Kelly is Jodie. Ishia Bennison's Joyce, Shane Zaza's Shafiq, Chord Melodic's Sledge, Mete Dursun's Gorkem and Matt Adams's Fit Lad round out the cast.

The episode is pure escalation. A drunken night out, a petrol bomb, a confession, a fresh body. It's a lot, and Wainwright keeps it all in hand.