The Best Episodes Written By Colin Teevan

DCI Vera Stanhope investigates the murder of 29-year-old Niall Coulter. With those closest to Niall intent upon obscuring the truth, it is not until the body of a drug dealer is found washed up on a Northumberland beach that the dreadful truth begins to emerge about Niall's past. While coping with revelations from her own past, Vera sifts through evidence of the grief, love and addiction that characterised Niall's life and deduces that his murderer acted through selfless and unrequited love.

The siege enters its third day, and the rebels try to get governments of other nations to recognise Irish independence. However, the British forces are closing in on them. Elizabeth, Frances and Jimmy get caught up in the fighting at the GPO.

The people of Dublin are divided as the rebels launch their attack against the authorities on Easter Monday, turning friends and family against one another as the violence spreads.

A ruthless campaign of executions is carried out, but the deaths have the unintended result of building public support for the defeated rebels. As prisoners are shipped to England, May is persecuted by the authorities, while Frances is driven to take drastic action.

As Irish nationalists plot to overthrow British rule, friends May, Frances and Elizabeth follow separate paths in order to do their bit.

The reinforcements the rebels urgently needed fail to turn up, and they are forced to surrender to the British army. As the people of Dublin vent their rage, the captive militants await their fate as the first in a series of executions take place.