Episode 8

It's Hardy's last day on the job, and the Millers cannot find Tom's laptop. Ellie pays Lucy £1,000 to learn that Lucy saw a man place a bag of clothes into a skip the night Danny died. Nigel is found and re-arrested. With Joe present, Hardy interviews Tom about the laptop and about emails Danny exchanged with Tom and another person. Danny's smartphone is reactivated, which leads Hardy to the killer: Joe. Joe confesses to killing after the boy threatened to expose the inappropriate attachment Joe had with him, and he accidentally strangled him to death in a blind rage. In a flashback, the audience sees the events of 59 days earlier, when Joe killed Danny. Joe says he called from the summer house to confess to Hardy, but Hardy brought Ellie as well. Not wanting to confess in front of his wife, Joe ran. Hardy informs Ellie, who confronts and attacks Joe in a rage before being restrained. The aftermath of Joe's confession is shown: Ellie moves into a hotel with her children; Hardy works with the investigative team and Karen on the press conference announcing the killer's capture; and Hardy tells the Latimers about Joe. Mark confronts Joe through a cell door, and Beth accuses Ellie of covering up her husband's complicity. Ellie and Hardy then discuss Joe's psychological problems. The Latimer family holds Danny's funeral. That night, beacons are set alight all along the beaches and cliffs of Dorset near Broadchurch in memory of the slain boy.