The highly anticipated final episode of hit drama The Missing screens on BBC One on Tuesday night and millions will be tuning in to find out what happened to little Oliver Hughes in 2006. Here are the latest theories about his disappearance...
The slimy journalist knows something
Malik Suri was desperate to bag himself a job at The Telegraph and he didn't enjoy giving up that vital piece of evidence to police liaison officer Mark Walsh last week. He may not have kidnapped Oliver himself, but he had the most important lead in his possession for a long time - so why didn't he investigate it and get the scoop he's been so desperate for?
Iain Garrett murdered Oliver
Why did Iain Garrett get involved in the case and risk his own dark secret coming to light? Many have suggested that Garrett was responsible for Oliver's disappearance; has he taken the secret to the grave with him?
Mark Walsh is hiding a vital clue
Some were suspicious of Emily's fiancé a couple of weeks ago, until Mark stuck his neck out to wrestle a key piece of evidence from Malik Suri last week. But some viewers are wondering if Mark switched the envelope Malik gave him before handing it to Tony? Has he changed the evidence in a bid to frame someone?
The hotel owners did it!
Alain and Sylvie Deloix seem like a lovely couple, but could this be a ploy by the writers? They're being very kind to Tony and Emily, but could that be because they have a guilty conscience? Some are sure the piece of evidence recovered from the swimming pool was a sobriety coin belonging to Alain. But if so, how did it get there and why would Alain kidnap the child of a guest?
Khalid Ziane is the missing piece of the jigsaw
Ziane obviously understood how important the evidence he found by the swimming pool was when he withheld it, but who was he protecting? He's obviously got some pretty powerful enemies as he was murdered just as he was about to talk...
Oliver was kidnapped by a human trafficking gang
The swimming pool of a quiet French town doesn't seem like the most likely place for human traffickers to operate, but we know that gangs operate in the area. Why risk detection by picking a target that would attract a lot of attention when they could easily have swiped some hapless orphan? Was Khalid Ziane on their payroll, leading them to kill him when he was about to talk?
It was the mayor!
The sharp-eyed have noticed Georges Deloix has the same surname as the couple who own the hotel and has been remarkably keen to have the investigation into Oliver's disappearance shut down for years. Was he responsible for Oliver's disappearance? Several suggest that the French mayor may have been in league with Garrett or even be a paedophile himself? Or was he simply covering for his brother?
Vincent Bourg abducted Oliver and someone helped him cover it up
Despite being a self-confessed paedophile, Vincent Bourg has garnered sympathy from many viewers in recent weeks. Is he still haunted by an awful crime he committed back in 2006? If he is reponsible for Oliver's disappearance then he must have some very powerful friends to have evaded capture... Or perhaps he knows the identity of the killer! Many believe he's covering for the dead Garrett, but some have even suggested he might be covering for the town's mayor!
...and finally, was it Emily Hughes?
We're not holding our breath on this one. As far as we can see, Emily has no motive and has been pretending to be heartbroken for nearly eight years. Why would she do this? It's highly improbable, but some people out there think she's guilty...
*The Missing will be available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray from Boxing Day, courtesy of RLJ Entertainment’s Acorn Media
