Death Valley episode 5 recap: A murder mystery weekend becomes real!

Death Valley episode 5 sees Janie and John head to a murder mystery event when someone is murdered for real. Plus, Janie and John working together hits the papers. Here's everything that happens in episode 5...

The episode opens at a big country mansion, and we see a poster for "A dinner with death". It's a murder mystery event, and Helena (Patricia Hodge) dramatically announces, "Luncheon is served with a side dish of murder".

The guests follow her into the dining room, and she introduces them to the detective, actor, and national treasure Anthony Hart, or as he's also known, Elliot Flame from television's Phoenix. "I thought I was supposed to play the victim," says Anthony's son Owen (Nathan Foad). "You were," says Helena. And then we see Anthony has a dagger plunged in his chest and is dead for real!

"One fatal stab to the heart," says Baxter. Clarke says half of the guests were on a garden tour all morning, so they've ruled them out, but they need statements from the others. Clarke says if she wraps this up quickly, her promotion is in the bag.

Baxter says there are no defensive wounds on the victim, and the attacker killed from the front. The murder weapon is a letter opener and not a knife. Baxter spots that there’s foundation makeup on his left eye; somebody had punched him fairly recently.

Janie starts the interviews. The guests include Patty (Wendy Mae Brown) and Bill Marcus (Colin McFarlane). Bill still thinks it’s a game!

Helena says her brother came back last month. She explains this is the Hart family home. Owen says he lives in Ibiza normally. Helena says she's invited a friend over for support, and of course, it's John!

John and Janie head to the dining room. John says it's interesting that the killer chose a letter opener rather than one of the many steak knives on the table. He thinks the letter opener is significant to the murderer. Janie says they might have just randomly grabbed it.

John says he was once good friends with the victim, but then they became bitter rivals with Phoenix on ITV and Caesar on the BBC. Janie says well, he won because he became a star in America. John says he was begged to go to America, but he couldn’t make the dates work!

John notices some name holders on the table and says to himself that’s "interesting".

Helena says she hasn’t seen the letter opener. Janie, though, is more interested in the fact that Helena and John had a "bit of a fling" in the 1980s. "He was a wonderful lovemaker," adds Helena! But then John met his wife, Ellen.

Helena says John went off-grid after Ellen's death, but he's met someone, and this has made him come alive again. Janie smiles, knowing it's her she's talking about.

The waitress, Izzy (Charlotte O'Leary), serves John tea and not the coffee he ordered. The son says Izzy is a bit useless as a waitress and says she bolted upstairs to the bathroom when she saw the body.

Izzy tells John that Anthony asked her to make him a margarita earlier, but he took one sip and said it was disgusting, and he lost it. Dennis, another of the guests, says it was after the welcome drinks and Anthony stayed in his room all day after that.

Patty says she thinks it's the curse of Phoenix. Patty says loads of people connected with the show have died.

Janie and John search Anthony's room. John says someone hand-delivered a letter to Anthony, but it's missing. Janie's car troubles interest John. Eventually, Janie tells him that Sian left it to her, and that's why she’s desperate to keep it running.

John says he's surprised Anthony had a celebrity gossip magazine in his room. Janie says there's not much in the room, and she doesn't think he was planning on staying. Janie thinks maybe Anthony was preparing to do a runner and suggests it gives Helena a motive. John isn't convinced. He says they should talk to the son, Owen, as it's odd that he returns and his dad is murdered shortly afterwards.

Owen explains he used to party, but now he runs a wellness retreat. He says a few days ago, his dad acted strangely as he got everyone to leave the house. Owen says he came back early and found his dad with a woman.

Helena tells John that Owen normally returns when he's run out of money. Father and son clashed often, and yesterday they argued. Helena says she keeps finding doors that are normally locked, unlocked. Why?

The road has flooded, so everyone is going to have to stay the night. Janie tells everyone they should lock themselves in their rooms until the morning, when hopefully the road will be clear.

We go back to an episode of Caesar, where Caesar is talking to Atkins (Jim Howick). "Do you have to watch that now?" asks John back in the present. "It helps me think," she says as she watches Caesar on her laptop.

Evan and Janie discuss the case on the phone. Anthony was booked on a flight to America next week. He also filed for bankruptcy in the US. Janie says that explains why he was doing murder mystery events. But John hits back that if Anthony needed money, surely he’d just do an advert. John gets agitated when Janie suggests he hook up with Helena.

In the night, John is woken by dripping water. He searches the house with the torch on his phone. He bumps into Helena. She suggests a nightcap. John’s tempted, but then he retreats to his room. Helena shakes her head.

The next morning, Janie says she thinks the mystery woman Owen saw with Anthony is the lover Anthony came back for, but she had a jealous husband, and the husband joined the mystery event to kill his love rival. She thinks it's Dennis (Karl Johnson). John's not convinced. John thinks it's far more likely that the mystery woman was an estate agent and Anthony was going to sell the house. An estate agent also explains all the unlocked doors.

Janie thinks it's Owen, but mainly because he's into yoga. Janie confronts Owen with a photo of him rolling out of a cab in Soho in the celebrity magazine found in Anthony’s room. She says that's why he argued with Anthony, because there is no wellness retreat, and Owen has been living in London, partying on daddy's money. Anthony was threatening to cut Owen off. Janie says it’s a strong motive for murder, getting his hands on his dad’s inheritance. Owen counters that Dennis threatened his father.

They go to speak to Dennis. Dennis says he just stood up for the maid when Anthony had a go at her for getting his drink wrong. John wonders why Dennis is there at all, as he doesn’t seem to like actors or acting. He says he used to watch Phoenix with his daughter, but they fell out and she moved to Canada. So he came to the event to connect with his daughter in some way.

Janie confirms it was an estate agent. The estate agent revealed that when she phoned the house, it was picked up by Anthony’s sister. Helena told the estate agent they weren't sure if they would be selling.

Helena admits she took the call. She pushes a light switch and claims to have gotten an electric shock from it. Or is there another reason her hand hurts, wonders Janie? Helena admits to hitting Anthony but says that was all. John brings up the name cards being in the wrong place. They go to the dinner table, and Helena comments that what's strange is that one of the name cards is for a woman called Lorna, who wasn’t there. Patty’s name was meant to be Mary, not Lorna.

Evan discovers that Lorna was a production assistant on Phoenix. She died after working an incredibly long day on the show by falling asleep at the wheel of a car and crashing. At the time, she was driving to Anthony's house to pick up his mail. Evan adds that although the letter opener was the murder weapon, he also had poison in his system. The substance used was brake fluid, and it apparently tastes sweet. John says that explains why Anthony thought his margarita was too sweet.

Janie says, "What if Izzy is Lorna's daughter and that's why she poisoned Anthony?". John wonders why she didn't just kill him in the street. Janie says she wanted him to be scared, and that's why she posted the letter. It was a threat. That's why she ran upstairs when the body was found. Janie adds it was also strange the way she took the bins out during a storm. That’s because she was getting rid of the letter.

Janie goes to confront Izzy with her theory, but Izzy says her mum is very much alive. Turns out the letter she put under Anthony’s door was a headshot; she’s an actor, and she lied to get the job because she thought it would help her career.

Janie and John discuss the case, and John thinks he’s got it. He says: "It wasn't the daughter, but it was the daughter". Janie gathers the suspects. John says the key to the case is the fact that a young woman called Lorna died because of Anthony.

Dennis is revealed as the killer

The letter opener was symbolic of the fact that she died collecting his post. John points at Dennis and says he was the big inconsistency from the start.

"The huge fan of Phoenix who wasn't interested in the show”. He says Dennis was telling the truth about his daughter liking the show. John says he didn't fall out with his daughter because she's Lorna and she's dead.

Dennis confesses and says, "That man… killed my girl". He said he knew he'd finish off smug Anthony one day, he just had to work out how to get to him. When he saw the advert for the murder mystery event, he took his chance. He explains how he changed the place cards. “I asked him for an autograph for my little girl, he asked me her name, I told him Lorna Madison. They were the last words he heard," he explains.

Owen says you killed my dad. Janie says he saved him a job as he was planning to kill Anthony! He was the one who put brake fluid in the Margarita. Janie said he had to because his dad was cutting him off. Owen says there's no evidence. Janie says there will be on the tequila bottle. Owen thinks he's got off, but Janie says he's still going to be arrested for attempted murder. Dennis and Owen are taken off by the police.

Janie sees Evan, and he tells him that the dead sheep he was looking into turns out to be a dead body! “It had been in the drain for years,” he says. “Clarke wants us on it straight away.”

John asks Helen out for a dinner date. "I can’t believe the vicar did it," says Bill, who still hasn't clocked that it was a real murder! "We will be booking again for next year!"

Turns out Bill’s been taking photos of John and Janie working together, and they're on social media. Janie's worried she’ll get fired. Janie looks at her phone, and there's a news story online about her working with "washed-up actor" John. And her boss phones her…