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***
Phil Mackie intercepted phone messages between Pat and Jo in After the Flood episode 5 (Credit: ITV)
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.
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