Down Cemetery Road ending explained: Does Zoë die and what happens to Dinah?

*Warning: This article contains full spoilers for the finale of Down Cemetery Road.*

In the run-up to the final episode of Down Cemetery Road, there were one too many close calls, a train carriage chase that we can't quite stop thinking about and some truths finally coming to light about the mysterious bomb explosion that kicked off the series.

The penultimate episode saw the ultimate showdown between Amos (Fehinti Balogun) and Zoë (Emma Thompson) as he tried shooting her dead from the cliffside. Dinah and Sarah (Ruth Wilson) had to jump from those very cliffs into the sea to obtain a speedboat that would get them out of there in one piece but not realising that waving for Zoë's attention would give away her spot to Amos, things didn't look good for Zoë at all.

Amos shot at the landmines as Zoë ran towards the sea and it looked as though things had ended on a sad note for the private investigator, with Sarah having no choice but to take the boat and drive hastily away with Dinah ducking for cover.

But what exactly happened in the final episode of Down Cemetery Road? Read on for a full breakdown of the gripping finale.

Down Cemetery Road ending explained: Did Zoë die?

Although Sarah makes it safely back into town with Dinah in tow, she thinks that Zoë has unfortunately fell victim to Amos's murderous plots. However, it also soon becomes apparent that a gun-wielding Hamza (Adeel Akhtar) is on his own deadly mission, as ordered by C (Darren Boyd) to "finish it" once he reports to his boss that he's spotted Sarah and Dinah.

Back in the town, Sarah tries to explain more about Zoë to Dinah and no sooner does she call Zoë "a bit mean", Zoë herself turns up right behind them. It turns out that Zoë made it out alive from the beach after all, with the help of Donny (Gary Lewis) who drove her back to land. However, the police are still on the hunt for Zoë after being incorrectly tipped off by Amos about her being a murderer.

At the same time that police start to swarm the village, Amos also makes his way further into the island. But that's not before he disposes of his bag (of weapons, we're sure), retrieving one grenade for luck on his way down the road.

Sarah is struggling with their decision to flee, saying that she thinks they should just go to the police and tell them the truth. But Zoë underlines the reality of the wider government conspiracy and the fact that these people are still after Dinah. So, they get on a bus headed for the train station and all is well. Well, at least temporarily. It turns out that the bus has been hijacked by Hamza, a fact that Sarah and Zoë only realise late into the journey when they figure out they're nowhere near the station.

Hamza eventually drives them to a church and locks them inside, taking them all hostage but isn't exactly the cold-blooded, murderous type as we've learnt. Not knowing what to do now, he calls C and tells him of his predicament, who then informs him that back-up is on the way. Of course, it's on the way in the form of Amos who has stolen a car to get there. But Amos isn't about to get involved unless he gets what he wants: to kill Hamza, something that C says is perfectly alright with him.

Dinah, who has clearly picked up a thing or two while being on the run, pulls out a rusty metal shard from the pews and hands it to Sarah and Zoë to use later. Just as Hamza is getting to quite a fever pitch in his own nervy monologue, a grenade comes crashing through the window, signalling the arrival of Amos. It goes off and together, Sarah, Zoë and Dinah hide out in an underground space in the church's floor.

Does Amos die?

Amos enters the church and a confrontation between the villain and Hamza starts to notch up, with Amos willing Hamza to shoot him. They're interrupted when Dinah appears outside in the church's window, which triggers Amos to look below and spot Zoë crawling underneath. Pulling her out, the pair get into a tense stand-off, with Amos eventually getting the upper hand and keeping Zoë in a headlock.

However, Zoë has just enough left in the tank to muster up the strength to stab Amos in the eye with the shard of metal Dinah retrieved earlier. Sure, it's a bloody and disgusting injury but that's not what kills Amos. Instead, he walks back and loses his footing on a small toy car, falls and suffers a fatal head injury which kills him.

At the same time, Hamza has gone chasing after Dinah and tries to lure her out but she cleverly runs to Sarah, who faces off with Hamza with a gun of her own that she retrieves from the bus. Hamza gets Sarah to put her gun down and tries to outsmart her by picking it up, something she had a feeling he'd do in the first place. It turns out that she kept the plugs in the barrels and so, the gun backfires with the fateful shot taking most of Hamza's hand in the process.

With both baddies down, Zoë runs out of the burning church to Dinah and Sarah who are more than happy to see her. They take the stolen car that Amos had come in and make their way down the winding roads, with Sarah singing along to What’s Up? by the 4 Non Blondes, dramatically tossing out her wedding ring in the process.

We then see a wounded Hamza stumbling down similar country roads, with his hand bleeding out and no end realistically in sight.

What happens to Dinah?

On the train back, Zoë calls Wayne and he's given the green light to deploy all of the government secrets they've managed to suss out, including videos of the chemical testing. Because of the public outcry to all of the information doing the news rounds, C resigns from his government post and sets off for a life in the private sector, apparently unscathed by his cover-up plots. Talia (Lydia Leonard), the defence secretary, is the one who now has to answer for it all and has to shoulder the blame.

Landing safely back in London in one piece, it's time for goodbyes for Dinah, Sarah and Zoë who all go their separate ways. Sarah drops Dinah off with Downey's sister Ella and not one for emotional goodbyes, Zoë walks the opposite way away from Sarah without saying anything but does get teary as she does so.

Read our guide to the best Christmas TV for 2025.

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