Down Cemetery Road season 1 episode 6 ending explained: Why did Amos kill the elderly couple?

Down Cemetery Road, an eight-episode British thriller series adapted by Morwenna Banks from Mick Herron's 2003 novel, premiered on Apple TV+ on October 29, 2025. The first two episodes launched together, with weekly drops concluding on December 10. 

Directed by Natalie Bailey and executive-produced by Banks, Herron, and others, the show follows private investigator Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson) as she aids Sarah Trafford (Ruth Wilson), a mother whose daughter Dinah disappears amid a house explosion tied to a government chemical-weapons experiment. 

By episode 6, aired November 26, 2025, titled "Neglected Waters," the narrative converges on a hidden Scottish island holding Dinah as bait. In this episode, Amos kills elderly American tourists Bob and Shelley Poland (Steven Cree and a guest star) not out of rage, but to frame Zoë and divert police from his trail.

The plot exposes a Ministry cover-up of histropine trials on soldiers, including Downey played by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, who survived but faces lethal side effects.

Key cast includes Fehinti Balogun as Amos, Adeel Akhtar as enforcer Hamza, Darren Boyd as C, Tom Goodman-Hill as Sarah's husband Gerard and Adam Godley as bureaucrat Joe Silverman. 

Down Cemetery Road season 1 episode 6 ending explained: Amos’ calculated kill, Zoë's reunion with Sarah and Dinah’s location

Episode 5 details the chemical trials' origins through flashbacks: Downey's unit, exposed to a nerve agent in a simulated war exercise at a Scottish base, receives histropine as an untested antidote, causing most to die in convulsions.

Downey and squadmate Tommy escape to Oxford, but Downey leaves before the house blast. He discovers Dinah's kidnapping is Ministry bait to draw him out for elimination.

Sarah connects with Downey and they approach Amos, who has buried Axel and cut ties with C. Amos discloses Dinah's location at the trial site and arranges a rendezvous for mutual payback.

In London, C pressures Amos for transport and retirement funds, granting clearance to eliminate threats including Downey, Sarah and Dinah. Zoë, after seeing Amos kill a doctor, silencing witnesses, switches to tracking him but he detects her via Axel's notes. Paths align as Downey and Sarah head north while C deploys Hamza.

Episode 6 shifts to a Glasgow overnight train, where Zoë shadows Amos but he confronts her directly from Axel's diary description. He chambers a round and sits across from her in the train.

American retirees Bob and Shelley interrupt, claiming adjacent seats and diffusing tension with chatter about their trip. Zoë introduces her to them with a fake name "Julia" and engages them while Amos as "Andy," joins briefly but avoids a group photo Shelley takes.

As the train approaches Glasgow, Zoë excuses herself and hides in an unoccupied cabin with the Polands, using empty berths for camouflage. Amos, frustrated, soaks a rag in oil from maintenance supplies, lights it and starts a small fire to trigger evacuation.

Amid the disorder, he isolates Bob and Shelley, bundles them into a waiting van at a rural siding, and shoots them. He stages the Polaroid, showing Zoë smiling with the victims at the scene, then calls the police. An all-points bulletin labels Zoë armed and dangerous.

In London, C meets Hamza at a café and rebukes his botched Amos hit. C notes Amos's superior cleanup of the histropine scandal amid Home Office scrutiny, then arms Hamza with a pistol and a helicopter, ordering him to kill Amos and Downey.

Hamza complies, lifting off for Scotland. Separately, C attends a rehearsal with activist Talia, who hints that her anti-corruption campaign targets operations like the soldier exposures; C deflects coolly.

Meanwhile Downey and Sarah camp in Scottish woods, passing a flask of whiskey. Downey brushes off Sarah's questions about their bond as mere camaraderie. His histropine symptoms worsen without meds. He slips away at dawn, stealing a dinghy for a solo push to the island, deeming Sarah a liability.

Sarah awakens abandoned and reaches Firinn Village's general store. The shopkeeper complains of youths looting the defunct army base. She hikes there, encountering teens Nev, Ty, and Steph and Hamza's inadvertent suppliers, scavenging scrap. Steph uncovers archived files on the trials: victim logs, histropine formulas, death certificates.

Sarah links up with a rattled Zoë in the mist, reviewing Wayne's decrypted bodycam footage of the squad's agony. They agree that Sarah will canvass pubs for base access while Zoë lies low.

At the tavern, Sarah gleans from locals that a sixth Hebridean island was redacted from maps post-trials, the black site. This confirmed that Dinah was kept at an army base in the islamd, the location of which was removed by the Government on the maps to protect their illegal experiments from getting exposed.

Radio alerts blare Zoë's description as the couple's killer. Sarah, convinced of Zoë' innocence, drapes a cap over her face and escorts her out. They identify a fisherman's supply run matching the island's coordinates, hotwire a ferry and depart with the pilfered map.

The finale scene of the episode tracks Hamza's helicopter blades whirring overhead, Downey's boat slicing through fog,  Amos is GPS-trailing Dinah's stuffed bear, throttling a speedboat while Zoë and Sarah navigate how to drive the ferry.

They are all headed towards the island. Now the question remains, who will reach Dinah first?

What to expect from episode 7 of Down Cemetery Road season 1

Episode 7 titled "Lights Go Out" premiering on December 2, 2025, will centre the action on the concealed isle. Hamza's early landing could clash with the teens whose files threaten to broadcast the trials. Downey's decline may forge uneasy pacts with Amos, but C's directive demands for executiom, will create chaos.

Zoë's fugitive status tests Sarah's loyalty amid patrols; Talia's probe adds London fallout. Herron's plotting suggests casualties, likely Amos or Downey but Dinah's extraction pivots on the protagonists' alliance, building to the series' conspiracy unravelling.

Watch all episodes of Down Cemetery Road season 1 exclusively on Apple TV+, starting at $9.99 per month after free trials.

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