There’s nothing more exciting and satisfying for a telly viewer than to have a mystery solved in the final episode.
So you can imagine the relief for fans of Broadchurch, who have for the past eight weeks been patiently sitting on the edge of their seats trying desperately to work out which of the guys on the show raped Trish Winterman (Julie Hesmondhalgh).
READ MORE: EastEnders viewers thrilled with return of two favourite characters
And last night, finally, the mystery was solved and the culprit was named!
Only there was a twist!
Fans discovered that TWO people were responsible for the nasty crime.
And the guilty parties were – SPOILER ALERT – Leo Humphries and Michael Lucas.
However, before the final revelation, viewers were teased and put off the scent when Clive Lucas was initially arrested on suspicion of rape after his wife discovered his drawer full of random stuff that included Trish’s keys.
During a tense interview with Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) and Alec Hardy (David Tennant), Clive confessed that he was guilty – well, guilty at least of nicking stuff from his passengers – which is why he had Trish’s keys in his possession.
But when police revealed how his DNA and been found on the sock used to gag Trish during the rape, Clive confessed his son Michael had been with Leo Humphries on the night of the rape, and that he had picked them from the party and driven them home.
But the solution to the whole mystery was revealed in a series of flashbacks, in which viewers saw how the wicked Leo had groomed Michael into becoming his sexually deviant protege.
We also saw how Leo had taken Michael to Cath’s 50th birthday party, where later that night they had overheard Trish arguing with her husband.
It was then when Leo coerced Michael into raping Trish.
When charged, Leo stunned viewers with his boastful comments about how “proud” he was to have raped and filmed the various women he attacked over time.
When Trish was informed of who had attacked her, she was shocked, unable to get her head around the fact that someone as young as Michael could have been responsible for such a heinous crime.
Meanwhile, Ed Burnett (Lenny Henry) stumbled across a bag with bloody-twine on his land and finally revealed that he had heard the rape take place.
“I heard her being raped,” he told them.
“I didn’t know what it was. I heard some sounds coming from the edge of the waterfall, I thought it was just drunk sex. I didn’t know what it was until later.
“I could have stopped it, I could have helped her.”
Viewers were universal in their praise for the show with many expressing their disgust of the character of Leo (let’s hope people realise he’s not real and played by actor Chris Mason)
Others praised the show makers for tackling such a sensitive subject.
However, fans were more upset by the fact that as this was the very last episode of Broadchurch they would never see David Tennant and Olivia Colman again as Miller and Hardy.
READ MORE: Another old favourite is set to return to Albert Square!
Many expressed their sadness that it would be rare to see such an iconic double act on telly anytime soon.