The Cuckoo Channel 5 ending has viewers 'screaming' at TV over final scene plot twist

Channel 5's The Cuckoo: Jill Halfpenny as Sian
Channel 5's The Cuckoo: Jill Halfpenny as Sian -Credit:Channel 5


*THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE CUCKOO ON CHANNEL 5*

The Cuckoo aired one final 'plot twist' on Thursday night, as the new Channel 5 drama's ending divided viewers who watched it at home.

Just like Love Rat and Coma before it, The Cuckoo aired across four consecutive nights in the primetime 9pm slot, with a cast including Jill Halfpenny, Lee Ingelby and Claire Goose, as it told the story of Sian, an artist who imposes on the lives of troubled couple Nick and Jessica, by renting their spare room and getting very close, very quickly to their adopted daughter Alice, believing the teenager is actually her child.

That twist was quickly rumbled by viewers who watched the first episode and, after frantic scenes in the penultimate part on Wednesday, when Sian banged her own head against the wall to make it look like Nick had assaulted her, before driving off with Alice, things hurtled to a frantic conclusion 24 hours later with The Cuckoo finale.

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The first three episodes of the thriller were big talking points online, meaning there was plenty of interest in how it wrapped up, with viewers' prediction that Alice wasn't Sian's daughter and Sian's baby had actually died, proving to be spot on as her Aunt Kay told a desperate Nick and Jessica, the tragic truth, as well as explaining that Sian had recruited a 'crook' to help her track down girls with same birth date as her dead daughter.

Sian had taken Alice to a remote caravan park, with her then stabbing Nick and he and Jessica finally tracked them down, before a cliff top confrontation saw Alice try to trick Sian to get her to stop attacking Jessica, by calling her mum and telling her 'remembered' the past, before Sian threw herself onto the rocks below, presumed dead, after saying she wanted to 'be with her baby.'

However *SPOILER ALERT* the story didn't end there, as the very final scene saw a stranger knock at a door, with the camera then turning to show the figure of a woman that, although slightly blurred, looked a lot like Sian, meaning she survived the fall and was intent on causing havoc for another family.

Viewers who'd been following the drama all week were quick to react to the ending, with people massively torn on what they made of it. Taking to X, one exclaimed: "THE CUCKOO ENDING?!?!?! ME AND RI JUST SCREAMED WHAT THE HELL" as another wrote: "I never screamed at my TV so loud at the final episode. What a gripping drama" However, others weren't as kind with their reviews, with on critic blasting: "Stupid ending!"