Down Cemetery Road season 1 episode 4 ending explained: What did Zoe receive at her apartment?

Down Cemetery Road is a tense new thriller series on Apple TV+, adapted from Mick Herron’s 2003 novel of the same name. It’s the first book in Herron’s Oxford Investigations series, which also inspired the hit show Slow Horses.

Created by Morwenna Banks, the eight-episode series is directed by Natalie Bailey. It premiered on October 29, 2025, with the first two episodes available right away. New episodes release weekly on Wednesdays, leading to a season finale on December 10.

In episode 4, “My Friends Don’t Like Me”, aired on November 12, 2025, the action ramps up with chases, betrayals and a bold break-in. It all builds to a chilling close: Zoë returns home to find her apartment door ajar and the word “STOP” scrawled in red paint across her curtains. It’s a targeted threat from C, who’s identified her from Issac's office CCTV after she stole key evidence.

Emma Thompson leads as Zoë Boehm, Ruth Wilson plays Sarah Trafford, Adeel Akhtar is Hamza, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett portrays Downey. Fehinti Balogun shines as Amos. Darren Boyd plays C. Other key players include Tom Goodman-Hill as Gerard and newcomer Liv Hill as Dinah.

Down Cemetery Road season 1 episode 4 ending explained: Downey’s secret and Amos’s search

Episode 4 picks up right in the motel room. Sarah texts Zoë the news: Axel is dead, so Zoë can drop that lead. She describes Downey vaguely. To confirm, Zoë sends a screenshot from the Veterans Reunited website. Sarah verifies it’s him but pushes back on Zoë’s advice to run. Downey saved her from Axel, she argues, and he’s after Dinah too.

Before Zoë can explain the full danger, he snatches the phone and smashes it into pieces. He suspects tracking or betrayal. Moments later, he starts convulsing on the floor. The noise draws Sam, the motel’s naive receptionist. Sarah covers by claiming it’s “rough sex.” Sam buys it and leaves.

Once Downey stabilises, he asks for his pills from the bag—histropine. The next morning, he notices his gun is missing; Sarah locked it in the room safe for safety. She demands answers about the pills for the combination. Reluctantly, Downey says he has a rare neurological disorder treated with experimental histropine. It’s a partial truth—he leaves out the military experiments as the cause.

Satisfied enough, Sarah heads out for food. With Sam away from the desk, she sneaks onto his computer to research histropine. The site is “under construction,” yielding no info. Sam returns; she hurries back. In the room, she presses Downey on their pursuers and Dinah’s role. He admits Dinah is his late comrade’s daughter but shuts down further questions. As they prepare to go, Sarah suggests swapping clothes for better camouflage.

Meanwhile, Amos’s unauthorised visit to Dinah’s safe house forces Hamza’s hand. He relocates her to an abandoned army medical base—possibly the same site where the experiments happened, a dark irony for Tommy’s daughter. Hamza inspects it with his assistant Clem and seems unsettled by the eerie, rundown facility. This hints he might not know the full scope of what he’s covering up—perhaps he’s been fed a story about foreign threats, not homegrown horrors.

Hamza tells nurse Steph and guards Ty and Nev about the move. They’re unhappy but comply, transporting Dinah. Unseen, Amos monitors via a GPS tracker hidden in her teddy bear.

Back with Amos, his girlfriend alerts him to a hit on their dummy histropine website—from Sarah’s search. It locates the motel in Reading. They share a brief moment of hope before steeling themselves, maybe reflecting on Axel’s recent death.

Amos calls Sam, posing as a concerned party, to get the room number. He arrives disguised as a delivery guy. Sarah, downstairs, grabbing clothes, recognises him and whispers to Sam to stall her “stalker.” Sam tries chatting him up, but Amos knocks him out and charges the elevator. Sarah races upstairs; she and Downey grab their things and flee just as Amos kicks in the door. Hamza gets word of the failure and reports to C, who approves eliminating Amos—but warns against using amateurs.

Hamza ignores the advice and hires three cocky street thugs, paying them up front. That night, after the motel dust-up, they burst into Amos’s apartment. He takes them down with brutal efficiency. To cover his tracks, Amos douses the place in accelerant and sets it ablaze, destroying evidence and his old base. His girlfriend’s connection to the flat goes unmentioned, underscoring his lone-wolf drive.

On the road, Sarah and Downey pull over. He questions how Amos found them; she confesses to the histropine search. He lectures on digital traces but concedes she saved him from Amos. Downey admits he couldn’t have taken Amos alone—his condition is worsening. They need a new vehicle; the gray van is too recognisable. And guns—the motel safe holds his only one.

Sarah suggests breaking into her ex-boss, Gerard’s, house. She assumes it’s empty, tossing rocks at windows to check. No response, so they jimmy the lock and enter. Inside, a sloshed Gerard greets them with a shotgun. Sarah talks him down, explaining the crisis. Paula, his wife, wakes and helps de-escalate. Gerard is stunned by Sarah’s story and suggests calling his old friend, the police commissioner. Downey vetoes it, demanding the car and weapons.

Gerard agrees to the car but refuses guns—too risky if traced back. But in the dead of night, Gerard sneaks a call to the cops. Downey’s instincts kick in; he interrupts, forces the guns and keys at gunpoint, and zip-ties Gerard to the staircase, planning a solo exit. Sarah hears the muffled struggle and confronts him. Paula slips them a bag of supplies and distracts Gerard as they drive off. 

Zoë, frustrated by Sarah's radio silence, bombards DI Ash Varma with texts until he agrees to meet at an upscale café. Ash isn’t on C’s payroll—his boss is. He reopened Joe’s case at Zoë’s urging, but was shut down quickly. He smuggles her Tommy’s autopsy report to memorise—no photos allowed. Zoë spots the signature: Dr. Isaac Wright, a London pathologist on an Oxford John Doe case. Suspicious geography.

She invites Ash to raid Isaac’s office; he declines, prioritising his job over the risk. En route, Zoë calls her morgue contact Wayne, who’s quit to stream full-time on her earlier encouragement—but he’s already second-guessing. Isaac arrives mid-call; she hangs up.

At the office, the receptionist blocks her without an appointment. Perfect timing: Zoë pays a passerby to smash Isaac’s car window, drawing him and the receptionist outside. She slips in, grabs his laptop and USB drives, and exits casually, tipping the vandal. One mistake: she forgets to wear a mask.

Isaac discovers the theft and pulls CCTV footage, spotting Zoë clearly. He forwards her image to C immediately.

Why did Zoe receive the Warning? A deeper look at the ending

Zoë arrives home exhausted, key in hand. The door’s unlocked—unusual. Inside, the living room is dim, but something’s off: a plastic sheet hangs over the window, and in bold, dripping red letters, “STOP” stares back from the curtains. It’s fresh paint, the metallic tang still in the air. There was no forced entry beyond the door; this was a professional job, quick and message-driven.

This is C’s handiwork, straight from the episode’s close. He’s the Ministry’s top cleaner, ruthless in tying loose ends. After Isaac’s alert and the CCTV still, C knows Zoë has the laptop and drives—potential keys to the experiments’ secrets, including Tommy’s death and Downey’s enhancements. Those files could blow the lid off the program: eight soldiers turned into lab rats, faked deaths, and a cover-up reaching high into government.

So why not eliminate her outright? Killers like C don’t send postcards. It’s a calculated move to rattle her. The red paint evokes blood, a subtle nod to Joe’s unsolved murder—perhaps a reminder of what happens to truth-seekers. Second, misogyny might factor in; C could view Zoë as a meddling amateur, not a real threat, buying time to track the stolen data remotely or intercept her next move.

What to expect in Episode 5 of Down Cemetery Road season 1

Episode 5, titled “Slow Dying”, out November 18, should see paths collide. Sarah and Downey race toward the army base, low on trust but high on urgency. Amos, ever the hunter, closes in via the teddy tracker—expect a brutal safe-house showdown. Zoë dives into the laptop, possibly decoding horrors that flip Hamza’s loyalty or reveal C’s bigger play.

Stream Down Cemetery Road exclusively on Apple TV+. Subscription starts at $9.99/month. New episodes drop on Wednesdays.

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