‘Deadwater Fell’ ending explained: Who killed Kate and the children?

Warning: Spoilers ahead

The crime drama Deadwater Fell, starring David Tennant, has arrived on Netflix – but who killed Kate and the children? Read on to find out. 

The four-part drama was originally broadcast on Channel 4 in January 2020, but it is now available to stream on Netflix, with many choosing to binge through the episodes to find out how the story resolves. 

The tale revolves around a tragedy in a remote Scottish village in which a fire rages at the home of the Kendrick family. A mother and three children lose their lives, but the father, the local doctor, is saved. With all members of the family appearing to have been drugged, questions about how the fire started must be answered. 

The father, Tom Kendrick, is played by Tennant, while his partner Kate is played by Anna Madeley. The series also stars Cush Jumbo (Doctor Who, The Good Wife) and Matthew McNulty (The Rising, Looking For Eric). 

Deadwater Fell was created and written by Daisy Coulam, who also helmed the ITV series Grantchester. 

Deadwater Fell ending explained: who killed Kate and the children? 

In the climactic moments of the show, we see a flashback to the events before the fire. 

David Tennant’s Tom has learned, from delving through Kate’s voicemails, that she is planning on taking the children. leaving him and filing for divorce. 

Tom and Kate argue at home, causing their daughter Emily to run out of the house. Tom eventually takes her to bed. Later, when Kate goes to check on them, she finds them dead. 

When she asks Tom for help, he injects her with a fatal dose, saying, “they deserve better than you”. He calls his mother, then injects himself, while smoke begins to fill the house. 

We then flash forward to Tom lying in a hospital bed at the moment that police walk in to arrest him for the murder of his wife and children. 

What has the writer said about the finale? 

Daisy Coulam spoke to the Radio Times at the time of the original release of the show. About the decision to have Tom as the killer, she said: “I found it really interesting that people have looked everywhere. In fact, they say it’s too obvious to be Tom. I felt all along we wanted to say something about the men who commit these crimes, because it is men who are more likely to commit familicide than women.” 

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