S5 E1 • The Rapture (1)

Messiah returns to BBC One with Marc Warren as DCI Joseph Walker, who has finally met his match. He used to be celebrated for his finely tuned instincts and tenacity of character, but on his latest investigation, his personal demons are haunting him. DCI Walker recently drove his beloved Palestinian girlfriend, Salma, and her brother, Khalid, from the Gaza Strip through a border checkpoint. Khalid got out of the car and blew himself up, along with scores of innocent people. In the chaos, Salma and Joseph were separated. Now back in England, he's convinced she used him as a pawn. In a London courtroom, a young girl, Leah, accuses her father of repeated sexual abuse. The case is suddenly thrown by the gruesome and bizarre murder of a key witness and his family, and Joseph Walker is the new boss heading up the investigation. The defendant, Michael Wallace, and his lawyer, Stewart Dean, provide a firm alibi. Dean's defence case is based on the suspicion that Leah's memories have been instilled in her mind by Daniel Hughes, leader of the New Advent Church. Meanwhile, a scantily clad girl, Lucy, leaves a nightclub and arrives home – only to find her sister hanging from the ceiling and dressed in men's clothing. Lucy insists that her sister was a good girl but, too late, Joseph realises the killer must have attacked the wrong woman. He rushes to their house to find Lucy strung up, like her sister, in men's clothing. Elsewhere, a devout Christian has acid poured into her eyes and Joseph begins to wonder if these are religious hate killings – Hughes becomes an obvious suspect. Finally, when he's least expecting it, Joseph receives a visitor... Marc Warren stars as DCI Joseph Walker, with Marsha Thomason as DS Mel Palmer and Daniel Ryan as DI Terry Hedges. Rory Kinnear plays Stewart Dean.

Première diffusion : 20 janvier 2008

S5 E2 • The Rapture (2)

Joseph starts work uncovering the links between the recent murders, in the concluding part of this urban thriller starring Marc Warren. A distraught Salma has implored him to believe her and take her back, and Joseph gives her the keys to his flat, although he is still unsure what to believe. Joseph's colleague, Mel, has a drink with prosecution lawyer Mark Moore, but spots him talking to another woman as she arrives; he insists it was to do with work. On a run-down council estate, seven out of the nine occupants of a crack den are brutally slaughtered. Only a young mother and her baby are alive – and Mel recognises the mother as the woman Mark was talking to the night before. When confronted, Mark admits that the woman is, in fact, Leah's errant sister, who insists that her father did not abuse Leah at all – so Mark was trying to keep it quiet. Back at the office, a call comes in that Leah Wallace is missing – before anything can be done, a group of kids playing football find her body in an alleyway; her tongue has been removed and her chest split open beside a pile of sand. Mel and Terry stumble across another link and the team descends on the car park – all of a sudden, it begins to make sense. Joseph returns to his flat, and to Salma, feeling relieved to have cracked the case. As he enters, however, he notices sand underfoot and realises that the nightmare is far from over... Marc Warren stars as DCI Joseph Walker, with Marsha Thomason as DS Mel Palmer and Daniel Ryan as DI Terry Hedges. Mark Moore is played by Niall Macgregor.

Première diffusion : 21 janvier 2008