Unforgotten ITV ending explained: who killed Gerry Cooper in series six? Spoilers

Spoilers for Unforgotten series six up to and including episode six.

Unforgotten has revealed who killed the victim in its latest cold case - and it is quite the twist. The Bishop Street team were called into action after the body of landlord and publican Gerry Cooper was found dismembered.

ITV will be broadcasting the final episode tonight (February 24) on live TV. However the full box set is available to watch already, for impatient viewers.

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The case has kept audiences guessing and there was one final twist waiting in the season finale. It is yet another conclusion with a knotty and morally complex solution, which the show has become famous for.

But how did Unforgotten end and who killed Gerry Cooper? Here’s all you need to know:

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Who were the suspects this season?

Spoilers for Unforgotten season six - including the season finale - to follow. Don’t read further if you haven’t watched it all.

Like previous instalments of Unforgotten, the show introduced a cast of characters in series six that at first seemed very disparate but as the episodes went on it slowly revealed their connections to the victim - Gerry Cooper.

The potential suspects heading into the sixth and final episode of the season included:

• Melinda Ricci - provocative media personality and ex-lover of Gerry
• Juliet Cooper - university lecturer and wife of Gerry
• Asif Syed - Afghan refugee who had interacted with Gerry through his translation work
• Martin 'Marty' Baines - had worked at one of Gerry’s pub, but didn’t get furlough in the pandemic and had an altercation with the victim

Who killed Gerry Cooper?

The victim this season was the bad tempered and violent landlord Gerry Cooper. His rather unpleasant personality was unravelled over the course of the season.

At the end of the penultimate episode of the season, the Bishop Street team discovered Gerry’s blood on clothing belonging to Melinda and DI Sunny Khan arrested her in Ireland.

It put her as the prime suspect heading into the final episode. But there were plenty more twists and turns ahead for viewers.

The final episode of the season started with Marty being arrested as he crept through Juliet Cooper’s home while holding a hammer. It comes after he’d attempted to visit Gerry’s old pub in the previous episode.

In an interview with DI Sunny following her arrest, Melinda claims the blood on the jacket was due to her hitting Gerry back after he got violent with her on her birthday - leading to her breaking things off. She also denied having a baby and giving it up for adoption, as Father Luke Ryan had told police previously.

Melinda instead says she had an abortion and Gerry had tried to blackmail her and threatened to tell the press about it - due to her publicly expressed pro-life sentiments on BNC (the GB News like channel featured in the season). She refuses to voluntarily return to the UK and DI Sunny heads back alone.

The police find the Dawari family, who had been residents of one of Gerry’s properties - who had required Asif’s services as an interpreter. Mrs Dawari reveals her infant son died after getting sick in one of the victim’s properties, due to the damp - and that Asif was aware of his death.

During his interview with DI Sunny and DCI Jessie Jones, Asif explains he did hit Gerry after the dead man took a swing at him. But told the officers he was very much alive after it.

Next up for interview is Marty, who says he broke into the Cooper’s family home to offer Taylor his “sincere condolences”. He also tells the duo that he had previously broken into their flat above the pub and was talked out of hitting Gerry by Taylor.

However the next big revelation came in the form of the diary from a passing cyclist who had interrupted someone seemingly dumping Gerry’s body back in 2021. It revealed that the body was dumped earlier than previously thought, in the afternoon and not at night.

On CCTV footage, the vehicle spotted at the scene is identified and it featured a hastily adjusted number plate. The team are able to figure out it belongs to a car owned by Juliet Cooper.

Juliet reveals that during a row with Gerry while cooking, she turned round and punched him in the leg - not realising she was still holding a knife. She then ran away from him and hid in a bathroom, recounting how he continued to shout angrily before going quiet.

After a while she emerged and found him dead on the kitchen floor, then explained how she disposed of the body. But despite the confession, DCI Jessie has some nagging doubts.

She shows the phone records to DI Sunny and it shows that despite Juliet claiming Gerry got home late on the night of the murder, he had actually called a takeaway and had it delivered to their flat earlier that night.

The police then go to speak to Juliet and Gerry’s daughter Taylor. She talks about “the last row”, seeing her dad hit her mum.

Taylor tells the officers that she went into the kitchen, hearing the fight. She grabbed a knife on the table and stabbed it into his leg, causing him to swing at her.

It turned out the killer was: Taylor Cooper. Quite the unexpected twist, but explains why her mum was so against the police speaking to her - even if she didn’t realise herself that she had struck the fatal blow.

How did Unforgotten series six end?

After discovering the truth of Gerry’s killer, DCI Jessie and DI Sunny were left with the difficult choice. Let Juliet confess to the murder - or go with the truth.

It is revealed that the CPS decided it wasn’t in the public interest to charge Taylor over the killing. While Juliet is also not charged for her part in disposing of the body.

Asif gets engaged to his partner, while they reconcile at the beach. Melinda’s final segment on BNC airs and she is seen returning to the hospital where her partner is recovering from a serious injury.

See where the sixth series of Unforgotten was filmed. Remind yourself of why Nicola Walker left the ITV drama.