After the Flood has just delivered the most heartbreaking scene of series 2 – and arguably the entire show – as one of its central characters suffered a brutal attack. The big question now: is Pat really dead?
The ITV crime drama shattered viewers in the closing moments of episode 5, when Jo’s husband Pat was left for dead. Right now, fans want Sergeant Phil Mackie to pay. As villains go, he sits firmly alongside The Walking Dead’s Negan, Game of Thrones’ Joffrey Baratheon, and Happy Valley’s Tommy Lee Royce.
Much like Happy Valley before it, After the Flood doesn’t flinch from killing off a popular, fundamentally decent character without warning. [Fans of Sophie Rundle will remember that her Happy Valley character Kirsten McAskill also met a sudden and shocking end].
Episode 5’s devastating cliff-top scene even eclipsed The Night Manager’s recent bombshell, when villain Richard Roper turned out to be alive after viewers had already seen his body.
Here’s everything we know about that harrowing confrontation between Sergeant Phil Mackie and Pat Holman – and what it means for Pat’s fate.
***Warning: spoilers from episode 5 of After the Flood series 2 ahead***
What happened to Pat in After the Flood series 2 episode 5?
In the latest episode of After the Flood series 2 (Sunday, February 01, 2026), viewers watched Sergeant Phil Mackie begin to unravel. Jack Radcliffe closed in on him first. After Mackie and Benson ruined him in series 1, Jack demanded compensation for the money he lost on his Uplands development – or he would go to the police with everything he knew. With nothing left to lose, Jack applied maximum pressure.
Benson refused to pay up, leaving Mackie without the cash he needed to silence Jack and firmly on the back foot.
At the same time, Mackie’s estranged wife Sarah delivered another blow, telling him their marriage was over and that she wanted a divorce. But Pat Holman’s actions finally pushed Mackie past the point of no return – with devastating consequences.
Pat had spent months gathering evidence against Sergeant Phil Mackie. In episode 5, he finally secured enough to bring him down. Pat tracked down one of Mackie’s former foster children, who agreed to testify. But his moment of triumph proved dangerously short-lived.
When Pat messaged his wife Jo to share the news, he wrote: “I think we’ve got him.” In a cruel twist of fate – and a masterstroke of writing – Mackie intercepted the message.
Who was Saskia Bale?
While investigating Mackie, Pat uncovered a disturbing historic case that set alarm bells ringing. Years earlier, police had quietly dropped charges against a woman named Saskia Bale. Pat soon realised that, like Lee Ellison in series 1, Saskia had been one of Mackie’s foster children.
Pat eventually tracked her down and pleaded with her to share the truth about her relationship with her so-called foster father. Like Lee, Mackie had manipulated and exploited her. In return for fostering them, he made his victims feel indebted and pressured them into carrying out favours. Lee had killed for him. Saskia had acted as a honeytrap in high-end car thefts.
Saskia told Pat: “Who was going to believe me over Phil Mackie?”
After meeting Pat, Saskia agreed to help. She contacted other former foster children, many of whom had also suffered abuse at Mackie’s hands and were willing to speak out.
But Mackie, played by Nicholas Gleaves, sensed the walls closing in and prepared his next devastating move.
Pat Holman and Sergeant Phil Mackie in terrifying confrontation
After snooping through Jo’s phone and intercepting Pat’s message, Mackie realised the net was tightening. Posing as Jo, he replied: “Go to our place, I’ll go straight there.”
During earlier visits to Jo’s house, Mackie had discovered that she and Pat shared a special spot in the woods. Using that knowledge, he lured Pat into a trap. Pat walked into the meeting completely unaware of the danger waiting for him.
Instead of a drawn-out showdown, the confrontation ended with shocking speed. Mackie launched himself at Pat, battering him with his baton until he lay bloodied and unconscious. In a chilling final act, Mackie then shoved Pat over the edge of a steep cliff. Barely conscious, Pat had no chance to fight back.
Is Pat really dead in After the Flood?
Tragically, all signs point to Pat being dead in After the Flood series 2. While he might have survived the beating with medical help, no one could survive that fall. The show delivers his death as brutal, shocking, and utterly devastating – carried out by the man who had already destroyed his life.
Episode 6 will almost certainly reveal the discovery of Pat’s body, followed by Jo’s realisation that Mackie murdered her husband. The finale promises raw emotion and high drama, and viewers will desperately hope Jo finally brings Mackie down.
Those unwilling to wait can head to ITVX now to learn Pat’s fate in the series 2 ending.
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