The Missing BBC1- thread 3

[EauLittleRougeofBethlehem]

Thread 1

Thread 2

Spoilers thread

Now, about that scarf.....

Oh my... how many cold showers can a woman take in a day? I'd forgotten how nice JN's bum was...he has now been fully upgraded to sexy in my eyes.

I don't think Mark knows that Emily has seen the footage of the boy at the window. Perhaps she'l tell him about it tomorrow and we'll see him starting to act strangely and panicking, AuntieStella?

OhMyGrood, james is alive and present in 2014, talking without accentas is his mother whom we saw at the hospital and presume to be Mark's EXW, so could he really be Romanian cargo? Maybe, but would be difficult to get away with.

Yes, now that you come to mention it, Araminta... Perhaps the poshish bob-haired English girl is the best sort of "foil" for JN's cheeky chappy N-Irishness.

On a similar tangent have just had the awful thought that as we can only see the back view there... perhaps JN used a "stunt" bum and that's not his?

Please remind me someone... why did Vincent need a false alibi? Was it just because investigating him may lead to Ian and his "interests"? It looks like neither was actually involved. Maybe.

Araminta my gut instinct from the beginning is that it has involved adoption somewhere, I posted a theory in the spoilers thread a few days ago though I think it was a bit far fetched for most!

Who did Mark hand James to at the beginning? We saw him being taken off presumably back to England but what if Mark had stolen him/tried to con the child traffickers and they wanted to take child back but got Ollie by mistake?

Ok I'm grasping here cos theories r running out. Plus whatever ziane picked up was defo instantly identifiable cos Malik saw it and went (followed by as he totted up the pound signs) & wasn't what was in the envelope left for baptiste. We don't even know it was Malik but the news made ziane desperate enough to attack baptiste

peanut the last we saw of James was Mark packing him off in a car with an other man. I think the evidence was a memory stick with footage on it.

The boy in the window seemed to be waving at someone before he was pulled away.
Maybe James waving at day while he nipped out from the 'business house' for a bit?

It would be most unsatisfying if it did turn out to be any of the baddies what dunnit... Caid gang, Ian etc.

All things and theories considered, I'm plumping for Mark. Perhaps he had arranged to have James kidnapped by a gang (and reunite with him later) so as not to lose custody of him now that his marriage has collapsed. Either that or his wife arranged the kidnap to get him away from Mark.
James was intended victim, Ollie was taken mistakenly. Vincent knows something - perhaps he was watching Ollie as he swam, and witnessed his abduction.
Whatever, Mark is your man.

I read somewhere that there are various endings and that the writers will decide which one to broadcast. I like to think that they have stumbled across these threads and are doing frantic re-writes inspired by the ideas on here

"Who did Mark hand James to at the beginning? We saw him being taken off presumably back to England but what if Mark had stolen him/tried to con the child traffickers and they wanted to take child back but got Ollie by mistake?" PeanutCookie

I am sure Mark said to Emily and Tony that it was his brother. Obviously he could have been lying through his back teeth but I don't remember James looking particularly frightened or apprehensive in the car as he left (leading us to assume he felt comfortable with this other man).

Baptiste looks too much like Willem Defoe for my liking.

Ah, and when Mark realised that it had gone wrong he may have tried to get Ollie back, but the gang had other plans for him and kept him.
Mark is racked with guilt about Ollie's disappearance, and his attraction to Emily is in part down to some sort of guilt and obligation to her.

By the way, not so long ago Ken Stott looked like this... What the flip happened?

One more sleep....

AuntStella Ziane looks miles better in that shot where he appears to be posing in his mum's kitchen.

I'd get rid of that moustache though.

I was thinking about the ending last night. I thought the only way it could have a happy ending would be if Ollie was James, but that cannot possibly be as James and Emily saw each other the day after Ollie went missing and didn't recognise each other. So sadly, whatever happened to Ollie it was sad- even if he was taken back to give to his birth parents or something :(

Therefore I am hoping that he was killed and that it was his blood in that house. Or that he drown in the pool or something. So long as his death was quick. Even as a work of fiction, I don't like to think about a scared little boy taken from his parents and even worse being abused etc.

My theory is that they are all involved and covering up for each other: Georges, Alain, Silvie, Ian, the garage men, the charity shop woman etc - the whole town. I think whatever it is has something to do with what happened in the past with Charmartain and Ziane (and possibly Baptiste?!). It could also involve Mark and Tony and the FIL in some slightly disconnected way (they provided or supported somehow without being involved directly?). Ollie himself could possibly be connected if the past event with Charmartain happened in 2002- maybe he was illegally adopted from Charmartain or something.

I think the only innocent person is Malik who was a victim of the past and Charmartain, and who watched the massive town cover up. This is why he is a journalist and clinging to the Ollie case. He wants the Ugly truth to come out- not because he wants to make money from his book, but because that was THe Only Way for the truth to come out and for Ollie to get the justice him and his family were denied by this town in he past. I think Malik will actually turn out to be the only good person and the hero.

I like the memory stick in the drain theory. Other possibilities are a diary, an address book or a phone. I agree it has to be something with vital evidence- obvious that it looks vital at a glance, but something that needs to be kept for a while to be studied properly.

Oh sheit that was my next picture

Time happened. It will happen to us all, you harsh woman

Thinking about the memory stick theory - you know you can get one with your company logo on? Maybe Ian's company logo was on it? And knowing what he was like, seeing that might suggest there'd be something on it?

Then maybe what was in the envelope included stuff printed from the memory stick and would show evidence had been withheld by it not being handed over sooner?

or not!

My theory is that Tony killed Ollie at the pool. Vincent saw this happen - perhaps he was filming them?
Vincent is terrified - he can't say that he knows about Ollie, as he would have to admit to his watching the child and he will be charged. He tells Ian. Ian pays for him to have alibis as it's in his interest.

Ian and Vincent therefore know that Tony has murdered Ollie.

Ian makes a payment to Tony - he intends to blackmail Tony with his knowledge.

The speech about guilt from Vincent/Ian is actually about Tony's guilt.

Baptiste has always suspected Tony of being responsible for Ollie's death. He is playing a long game. He doesn't arrest him when he finds the shirt,because he wants to find out what has happened to Ollie.

12 hours to go....

Ohmygrood why woukd Tony murder Ollie? Or are you thinking of a cover up of a hideous accident?

Would Vincent be in trouble for being at the pool? It was known he visited frequently so presumably not a breach of an order to be there. And as it was evening, it wouldn't be prime child-watching time.

Though I suppose if he had hidden cameras in changing rooms, something might be have been seen that way.

Maybe he lost his rag with Olleh for some reason- we've seen that he's got a history of losing his temper. It's a pretty plausible theory, although I really don't want to think that Tony did it. If it was him then he's a very good liar.

The trouble with the Tony as killer theory is that Tony has been so undeniably wretched throughout, even when alone he has looked bereft and tortured. We saw what happened in the bar when Ollie disappeared: he was separated from Tony. And why would he push to have the case reopened rather than let it lie?
I like the Vincent filming Ollie in pool theory.
Also the memory stick (if there is one) with company logo.

Not sure a whole town would collude with such horror, but then again, when the Hugheses arrived at the hotel first time, Sylvie said to Alain "Isn't it time to go to your meeting" which we may have taken to be his AA meting, but really it may be that he has to go and alert somebody that a little boy has arrived in town.

Time has happened to me too, alas, Strychnine